


music box

by nomnomjoonianne



Category: peraya - Fandom, พี่ว้ากตัวร้ายกับนายปีหนึ่ง | SOTUS: The Series (TV)
Genre: Angst, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Krist Perawat - Freeform, M/M, Peraya - Freeform, Reincarnation AU, Singto Prachaya - Freeform, Someone dies, Soulmates, Witches, but they live again, moon mage, sun mage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 18:52:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 26,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25570114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nomnomjoonianne/pseuds/nomnomjoonianne
Summary: It's the first time they met, but Krist's blood already boils at the sight of Singto Prachaya. After a constant game of push and pull, after a couple nights at the bar, they stumble upon a music box that somehow explains why underneath all the tension between them, they still find themselves craving each other's presence.
Relationships: Singto Prachaya Ruangroj/Krist Perawat Sangpotirat
Comments: 6
Kudos: 38





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this was originally a [thread](https://twitter.com/singtolovebot/status/1274630963121676288?s=20) on twitter.
> 
> i hope you like it because this fic means a lot to me. tell me your thoughts! [i'm on twitter](https://twitter.com/singtolovebot)

“What did that lawyer even do for you to be _that_ mad at him?”

Tay’s words bounce against the glass walls of Singto’s office as he shuts the door behind him. Hands on both sides of his hips and an eyebrow raised behind the spectacles, Tay Tawan was having none of his friend’s bullshit.

On the other hand, the younger doesn’t even spare him a glance and instead, just continues typing on his laptop, reading and sending emails to people he deems as relevant. It’s been half an hour since he got back from a settlement meeting with his client and the opposing counsel, and after hearing about Singto’s irresponsible outburst, the university professor immediately made his way to the law firm where his friend works.

Technically, there isn’t any reason for him to spend too much time in the office, but since he’s friends with almost everyone in the firm, nobody bats an eyelash, not even the senior partners.

“Hey, can you get that?” Singto points to the stack of folders on the drawers by the wall.

Tay rolls his eyes but still fetches the files for his friend, knowing fully well that he won’t be answering his questions as long as he’s preoccupied with something.

Which is going to take a while.

Dropping the folders on his desk, the lawyer mutters his thanks, still not looking back to the elder.

The professor crosses his arms, not moving from his spot. If there’s anything Singto hates, it’s when someone watches him work.

Tay’s persistence causes the younger to finally sigh, remove his glasses, and sit back into the chair. He stares back at the professor who still has his eyebrow raised at him, waiting for an answer.

Singto shrugs, “He just…pisses me off.”

“He pissed you off _that_ much for you to give him a drink he’s allergic to? I mean, how did you even know the guy can’t have coffee?”

Contrary to what Tay makes it look like, the lawyer _has_ asked himself the same question.

At the café, somehow, he immediately knew that the opposing party’s lawyer would want tea instead of coffee. Somehow, he knew he couldn’t have coffee, so Singto volunteered to buy their drinks.

“Just a hunch,” the lawyer uses as an excuse.

“Okay, whatever, but what you did was—”

“Extremely unprofessional and childish, I know.” Singto finishes the elder’s words for him.

Tay’s next words come out more frustrated, “And what if he drank that? What if he had severe allergic reactions? Sing, of all people, you should know the consequences!”

“P’Tay, I told you, I didn’t know he’s allergic to coffee,” Singto answers exasperatedly.

“Besides,” his voice comes out a tone a bit higher as he provides both of them another excuse, “I apologized.”

Tay squints at him, “You’re a child. A literal child.”

Singto rolls his eyes, “Please, it’s not like we’ll see each other again.”

“You literally have a settlement case together.”

“Which is about to be finished and the upper hand will be won by me,” the younger points out with a mischievous smile.

The elder chuckles and shakes his head, “Haven’t you heard?”

It’s Singto’s turn to raise an eyebrow, his temporary victory cracking with Tay’s words,

“Krist Perawat never loses.”

\--

“He’s an asshole, that’s what he is,” Krist rants as he puts down his wallet on the desk with a thud.

Behind him, his client and friend, Gun, chuckles, “Give the guy a break, he didn’t know you were allergic to coffee.”

The lawyer plops down on his swivel chair, immediately throwing a glare at his friend, “No, it looked like he knew that I can’t drink coffee.”

Gun settles on the chair across Krist, “What makes you so sure of that?”

Krist leans back into the chair, closes his eyes shut and massages the temples of his forehead in an attempt to ease the stress, “Because that’s how he always is!” He says unknowingly.

A beat of silence fills the room. The lawyer starts to wonder why the elder isn’t saying anything, and when he opens his eyes, he sees him leaning on the table with his eyes squinting suspiciously at him.

“What do you mean that’s how he always is?”

Krist raises an eyebrow, “What?”

“You said,” Gun emphasizes, “’that’s how he always is’. What do you mean?”

“I didn’t say that,” the younger defends which makes the latter roll his eyes, “Don’t play dumb, Kit.”

“Have you known him since before?”

Krist thinks about it. He doesn’t know why he said that or why he thinks the other lawyer knows he’s allergic to coffee and purposefully bought it to piss him off.

It’s true, though, he knows him. Singto Prachaya Ruangroj is a famous name that he’s heard from one lawyer friend to another. He’s been warned about the man’s persistence and confidence in court and in closing cases to his favor, but that’s about it.

He doesn’t think he knows the guy personally.

Krist sighs, “I’m probably just tired, P’. You know how I babble thoughtlessly when I’m tired.”

Gun scoffs, “You? Tired? At this time of the day?” He taunts, a finger pointing to the bright afternoon sky outside.

The lawyer shakes his head and chuckles, relieved that his friend will finally drop the topic.

“Anyway, tomorrow, Friday night,” Gun starts.

Okay, maybe Krist felt relieved a little _too_ early. With the ridiculous smirk on his face and the way his eyes are sparkling, the elder’s plans are pretty much evident.

Krist shakes his head even before Gun continues talking, making the latter whine.

“No—do _not_ say no!” He says half-laughing and half-whining, “You are coming with me to the bar. I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer.”

“P’, I’m busy,” Krist tries to reason out.

Gun cackles and frantically shakes his head, it’s obvious that he has this well-planned out.

“Not this weekend, you’re not! Come on, Kit, it’s been so long since you went with us on a night out. Take a break, didn’t you say you were tired?” Gun wiggles his eyebrows.

The younger widens his eyes innocently, “I didn’t say that,” making the smile drop from his friend’s face. Gun glares at him, unknowingly puts on a pout.

Krist puts up a staring contest with him, but he doesn’t even last five seconds before he bursts out into laughter.

“Okay, okay! I’m going.”

Gun grins triumphantly, “Fucking finally!”

The lawyer rolls his eyes and points to the door, “Don’t you have a date with your boyfriend or what?”

The latter looks at his wristwatch and utters a curse, immediately jumping to his feet and heading to the door.

“Bye, Kit, do _not_ bail on us tomorrow!” He reminds the younger.

“Goodbye, P’!” Krist replies with a chuckle.

The door shuts, and his office is silent once again.

There’s a pile of case files in front of him, and he has a meeting in half an hour. His schedule for the day is packed with minimal breaks in between, but right now, he needs to breathe.

Pouting, Krist leans back into the chair and thinks about the lawyer he’s been warned of.

All they’ve told him about the man is about his professional life. There’s nothing that could’ve passed as something about him personally which makes Krist wonder how he knows the guy would look pretty with a smile on. It makes him wonder how he thinks of how pretty his laugh would sound.

Krist sighs, shuts his eyes tight and goes back to massaging the temples of his forehead.

Maybe he does need a break.

—

As soon as he entered the room, Krist squints and tries to block the dancing lights from blocking his eyesight. He fails, of course, but he’s been to this bar far too many times back in college that he’s used to it.

Just like he expected, his friends are in their usual table that’s situated at one corner. It’s not that far from the bar and the dance floor, but it’s also secluded enough for them to get privacy.

Gun waves at him as he approaches the table, making the others turn to greet him.

“And Krist is finally left the walls of his office!” Arm cheers, followed by Off’s hooting who immediately passes a glass of whiskey to the young attorney.

Krist takes the seat beside Arm. Off and Gun almost glued together in front of them, it’s obvious that the boyfriends rarely leave each other’s side.

The youngest finishes his drink in one gulp, missing the burn of alcohol down his throat. If there’s something he managed to build up the most while in college, it’s his alcohol tolerance.

He’s about to down his next shot when he remembers something. The lawyer beams in realization, “Congrats on your new shop, P’!” He tells Arm.

The elder is a renowned stylist in Thailand. He’s worked with big personalities and brands and have put up a good amount of his apparel brand’s branches across the country.

On the other hand, Off inherited their family company which he has no choice but to run. Gun is a renowned filmmaker who is intimidating in everyone’s eyes except of the people he’s close with.

The four of them walk in different career paths, but somehow, they all managed to meet. Since then, they’ve been best friends who are successful in their own places. What one lacks, the other fills in. They memorize each other’s minds like their own.

Arm nods, “Thanks, but let’s not talk about me,” he grins mischievously. That’s the moment Krist knew where this conversation was going.

“Gun told us you picked a fight with someone yesterday,” he says.

The lawyer scoffs, shaking his head, “You’re exaggerating. I didn’t pick a fight with him.”

Krist scoots forward to have more space so he could remove his jacket, leaving only his white shirt and loosened tie. Being a lawyer and trying to build his name in the field is incredibly stressful, and with the heavy workload, it’s not a surprise that he left the office and go straight to the bar.

“You were glaring at the guy the whole time. We almost had to cut the meeting early because you looked like you were going to bite his head off.” Gun points out, chuckling.

“It’s just how my face is at work, P’.”

“You almost spilled your drink on him.”

The younger rolls his eyes, “It was an accident.”

“All we know for sure is that you hate him,” Off states with finality, causing the youngest to raise an eyebrow at him. “What makes you so sure? I haven’t even met him.”

“You’re defending everything we point out—which, by the way, are true. If you didn’t hate the guy, you’d just be nodding at whatever we throw at you and call it a day.” The stylist reasons, clinking his glass with Krist’s.

The latter laughs, “I’m literally a lawyer.”

Then, Gun leans into the table, a smirk on his face. He leans close enough that Krist starts to wonder if he’s going to whisper something.

“If you don’t hate him,” the man starts, and then raising a taunting eyebrow, he says, “Why don’t you prove it?”

His words confuse Krist for a second until he realizes where the elder is looking at. He follows Gun’s gaze and sees a group of people entering the room. People who he recognizes from different media platforms, and one that he’s just met recently yet whose face makes his blood boil.

Krist, Arm, Off, and Gun have all been friends for so long, and they have each other memorized. Sometimes, it’s a good thing, other times—just like now—it’s not.

Because, hell, all three of them know that Krist never backs down from a dare to prove his own words right.

Krist looks back to his friends, mouth slightly agape at the ridiculousness of the situation he’s in. “Why don’t you say hi to Atty. Ruangroj?” Gun says with a cheeky grin as he leans back into his boyfriend’s body.

Their eyes expectant of what Krist is going to do next.

\--

“I could be at home resting or we could be at your place drinking where it’s peaceful, but you just _had_ to take us to a bar.” Singto half-yells at his friend as they enter the place.

It’s loud and visually unappealing, aside from the fact that it smells like a shithole with cigarette smoke, puke, and alcohol mixed around. Definitely not Singto’s scene.

New claps the younger’s shoulder and leans into his ear for him to be heard better, “ _Please_ stop being an old man.”

He says before laughing and high fiving with Tay who’s chuckling albeit shaking his head.

“You’re the only party person among the three of us, Newwie,” the professor utters. The younger fakes a gasp, “You think you’re not?”

The elder just shakes his head and leads the way to a booth near the bar. Singto raises an eyebrow at a snickering New before following their friend.

The place is filled with different kinds of people, but it’s like the three men’s demeanor is enough for them to recognize them and make way.

Tay, being a professor at one of the country’s most prestigious universities, is infamous for his looks other than his way of teaching. With his swept back hair, silver spectacles, clean outfits, and the way he carries himself, it’s easy for him to be well-respected by anyone who sees him.

New, on the other hand, inherited their family’s business. He may have close friends working in the law sector, but that doesn’t stop him from running business in the underground scene. His face is easily recognized by many, may it be out of admiration or fear.

As soon as they take their seats, a bottle of whiskey, a bucket of ice, and three glasses are placed on the table in front of them.

Singto leans back into the couch, massaging the temples of his forehead, “I want to go home.”

“Shut up, Sing,” New scolds.

The youngest whines, “I don’t even like whiskey!”

Tay shakes his head, “Go order something else at the bar, you child.”

Singto rolls his eyes but follows suit. He makes his way back to the bar, muttering under his breath how he could just walk straight out of the door and go home.

He doesn’t, though. He knows his friends mean well, and they know he needs a different environment even just for a night. So, instead, he orders three bottles of beer—yes, all for him.

As he waits for his drinks, he feels someone step close behind him. Singto’s body physically tenses at the feeling.

The person whistles, “’s that all for you, Attorney?”

Singto clenches his jaw, rolls his eyes before turning to the man he didn’t expect to see the second time in a span of two days.

“Krist,” he greets but doesn’t bother to put on a smile.

The latter raises an eyebrow, his smirk widens, “Why do you look mad?”

Krist moves to the stool beside where Singto is standing. He sits on it, forcing the other man to look up at him as they talk.

“I think _I_ should be the one pissed here,” he taunts with a shrug.

The bartender places two bottles in front of Singto, he’s ready to grab them when a hand snatches one of the bottles away. Krist takes it to his lips, never breaking from the stare he’s giving the other man even as he drinks.

He downs the beer in one go. When he’s sure it’s empty, he waves it in front of the man, “I’m still talking, Attorney.”

Krist places the bottle back on the bar, finally breaking his gaze off from the latter.

When he turns back to the other lawyer, he sees him grip the bottle in one hand, the last bottle left untouched on the bar.

He doesn’t look happy, which makes the other man giddier.

Singto sighs. Probably trying to control himself, Krist thinks.

“What do you want?” He asks.

Krist wets his lower lip before smacking them together, his eyes never leaving the other’s, “We should hang out sometime.”

Singto squints his eyes before shaking his head, “You’re impossible,” he says before grabbing the other bottle and walks back to his friends’ table.

Above the loud music, he hears the younger man cackle and yell, “I’ll see you again, Attorney!”

The elder shakes his head, not even bothering to look back.

He sits down with a thud, places one bottle on the table with too much force that it earns attention from his friends.

Tay raises an eyebrow, “Got a stick up your ass?”

Singto clenches his jaw, flipping his friend off before he takes a big gulp from his drink, ignoring his best friends’ comments.

He knows damn well what that man wants.

 ****\--

It’s one hour, five empty bottles, and three shots later that Tay excuses himself, saying that he spotted an old friend.

Singto doesn’t pay this any attention, more focused on using bottles of alcohol to bury the anger he feels against a certain lawyer. New then calls him to talk about a case he’s working on, and finally, he’s distracted.

He’s not even sure why he just can’t stand seeing Krist’s face. Even knowing that he’s in the same premises as he doesn’t sit well with the lawyer. It’s like any time, the latter would walk up to him and piss him off.

Although, it’s true. He triggered him first when he gave the man something he’s allergic to, but he didn’t have to make a scene and nearly splatter Singto’s own drink on him.

Their relationship is practically founded on misunderstandings. It makes Singto feel like he’s in high school again having an unnecessary fight with a random schoolmate.

But Singto’s peace instantly diminishes when Tay comes back with four people in tow, each possessing a bottle of beer and an impish smile.

The way he’d do anything just to wipe that grin off Krist’s face.

“P’Arm, P’Off!” New exclaims at the taller men among Tay’s friends who acknowledge him back. The exchange of greetings make Singto raise an eyebrow, wondering how they know each other.

Their booth is large enough to fit all seven men, although for some reason, Krist chose to squish himself next to Singto rather than with his friends on the other end of the couch.

“Sing,” Tay calls out, “Arm and Off, they’re my friends from high school.” Singto greets them with a polite smile before turning back to his friend, “Oh? How come I’ve never met them before?”

Tay chuckles, “We’re all busy with our lives, Sing.”

“I haven’t even seen this idiot in ages!” The man named Off comments.

“This is Gun, Off’s boyfriend,” Tay continues, pointing to the smaller man of the group who he recognizes is the opposing party in their settlement case yesterday.

Gun chuckles at Tay, “We’ve met before. He’s P’Jennie’s lawyer.”

Singto just smiles and nods in agreement, facing the now-confused Tay.

The professor blinks, “Then that means—”

“Krist Perawat Sangpotirat,” the man beside Singto utters, making him turn to him. The younger is wearing the same cheeky grin he has when they talked at the bar as if the alcohol did nothing to his system other than make his face red.

“I believe we haven’t had our introductions properly,” he tilts his head before saying, “Singto.”

The elder tongues at the inside of his cheek, clearly annoyed. He stares straight back into Krist’s eyes before looking away, blatantly ignoring his words.

It’s easy to feel the rising tension in their table. Although on what kind of tension, their friends easily understood. Which is probably why New clicks his tongue and turns to Arm, talking about something Tay did in high school. Off and Tay join in, more bantering and defending themselves from whatever slander and embarrassing moment is revealed.

Gun jumps in from time to time, but he does more listening and laughing since he isn’t that close with the four men. Sometimes he turns to Krist, and they talk in hushed voices.

For the rest of the night, Singto does three things.

First, he joins in bullying his friends, laughing at the stupid things they’ve done in the past.

Then he drinks. He drinks as fast and as hard as he can to try to blur his own thoughts from pestering him about the third thing he’s doing—

Ignoring how good Krist feels next to him, among other things.

Contrary to many expectations, Singto was able to keep his hands to himself. Each one of them went home safely that night with no hook ups or whatsoever because they all had work to do the next day. Whether he took too long in the shower or not was his secret to keep.

Even then, even when he was given a chance to take a deep breath, sigh, and thank the universe that he didn’t make any more mistakes with the other lawyer, not all of his prayers were answered.

“Sir,” the intercom sounds, “Mr. Sangpotirat is here for your 1pm appointment with him.”

Singto hands halt from pressing into the keyboard, movement stopping mid-sentence at his secretary’s words. His eyes drift to the clock at the corner of his monitor and sees that it’s five minutes before one.

He still has time.

The lawyer presses on the intercom and says, “Let him in after five minutes.”

“Copy, sir,” his secretary immediately responds.

Singto leans back into his chair, completely forgetting about what he was doing. He feels his stomach make a flip, and just like that, he gets the urge to throw up. His hands get clammy and his feet get cold. Weirded out, the lawyer tilts his head before heading to the en suite bathroom in his office.

He works almost every day and night. Barely ever leave his office, so he needs his own space.

He turns the faucet on and splashes water onto his face, careful not to ruin his clean shirt. When he’s in the office, he likes to take off his blazer, but even so, he doesn’t like it when there are spots of liquid or dirt on it.

After turning the faucet off, the running water’s noise diminishing with it, the lawyer leans his hands on the sink and stares at his own reflection.

He tilts his head slightly to see the scar under his neck. It’s about two inches long that stretches from his jawline up to the back of his earlobe.

Before he gets lost in staring at it, he sighs and steps out of the bathroom, shaking off his hands to try to air dry it.

Just as he closes the door to his bathroom, he sees someone on the chair across his own.

“Who told you to come in?” Singto asks, jaw clenched.

Krist stands up and turns to the latter. He flashes a cocky smile that matches his swept back hair and clean-cut suit, looking expensive as fuck.

“Your secretary,” the man answers with a shrug.

Singto makes his way to his swivel chair and immediately looks at the time only to see the clock flash a 13:00, right on the dot.

He takes a deep sigh. It’s not even been a couple minutes since they’ve been in the same room, but Singto is already tired.

The lawyer motions to the seat where Krist was already in earlier, “Take a seat.”

They sit down and he goes straight to the point, “Is this about the settlement?”

The other lawyer hums and nods, and Singto is relieved that his annoying smile is gone now that they’re talking business.

Internally, he thinks it’s good that Krist can be serious when he needs to be. Not that it shouldn’t be normal, but his snarky remarks and annoying stance rubs off more on Singto than his formality when on the job.

They talk about the case. Apparently, Krist’s party is ready to settle with whatever Singto’s client has offered. With a few revisions and additional conditions, they arrive to a decision to draft a final contract.

“My client is on vacation; I have to wait for him to check the contract. I’ll be able to give it to you in three days, perhaps?” Krist says.

The other man shakes his head, “Just have it sent. You don’t have to come back.”

Krist raises an eyebrow and chuckles, “No, you misunderstood.”

His words slightly confuse Singto, wondering what he picked up wrong. Then the visitor leans into the table, “When I said ‘perhaps’, I was talking about the time.”

He laughs, the mischievous smirk that Singto hates returns to his face, “My coming back here is not an option.”

The bewildered man shakes his head, knowing fully well what Krist is about to say.

“When I told you that you’ll be seeing more of me soon,” he tilts his head and bats his eyelashes. His voice drops an octave, “I meant that.”

Singto squints at the man, tonguing the inside of his cheek in irritation. The action just makes Krist’s eyes sparkle. He throws his head back into a laughter before saying, “I’m sorry, Attorney, but that’s too early for us, don’t you think?”

His words make Singto to realize what he’s done to cause such a reaction from Krist.

He scoffs in disbelief and shakes his head, irritated, before turning his attention to his monitor, “If you don’t have anything else to say, step out of my office, Kit.”

It takes him a while before he realizes that his words caused the other man to stop his movement. His previously annoying laughter doesn’t echo in the quiet of the room anymore. Instead, all he does is stare at the busy lawyer in surprise.

Singto thinks it’s because of his order which feeds into his ego because, finally, he did something to shut the man up.

But when he looks at him, there’s a small smile forming once again.

Although this time, it’s no longer followed by a snarky response.

Krist nods and makes his way to the door. Somehow, Singto waits for him to say something. Somehow, he knows the man won’t leave without having to say the last word.

Somehow, he’s right. Because before the other lawyer’s hands touch the doorknob, he slightly turns his head to the man staring at him, “I’ll see you in a few days, P’Sing.”

\--

The next day, Singto is glad to not have the man pestering him endlessly and messing with his head. The way the lawyer’s name rolled off his tongue sounded too nice and too comforting that it had him up that night.

Oh, but he should’ve known that even without the man’s presence, he’d still be annoying him in his own way.

“Prame!” Singto calls his secretary and not even through the intercom, he just shouts from where he’s standing by the door.

When he entered his office, he was not expecting to see a small well-wrapped box on his table.

His secretary is quick to his side and immediately knows what the lawyer is going to ask, “That box was delivered via courier service early this morning, sir.”

Singto finally steps into his office, doesn’t bother closing the door, knowing that his secretary will be following him to know what he wants to do with the box.

The lawyer drops his bag on one the guest’s chair across his table before finally getting his hands on the box. There’s a card folded neatly on top of it, and Prame waits as Singto opens it.

_I have a feeling you’re a softie deep down, so at least, don’t throw this away._

_-Kit_

Singto scoffs. Since when were they on a gift-giving level? They’re barely even acquaintances.

He puts the card down and takes a look at the box. With a sigh, he tears the wrapper apart, revealing a cardboard box.

The lawyer lifted the box and shook it a bit, the object inside barely moved which caused him to think it’s quite large and heavy. Before he could open the box, his phone rings.

He motions the box for his secretary to take before saying, “Put it on the shelf, I’ll look at it later.”

The younger man nods and gladly takes the box to the shelf by the wall, and Singto finally sits down, hand going straight to the phone when he sees that the caller id is one of his clients.

Like the wrapper on his desk that was cleaned up, his mind quickly wanders off to forget about the box.

He spends the entire morning drowning in paperwork, doesn’t even realize how he hasn’t eaten anything until his secretary rings the intercom.

“Sir, your food is here,” Prame says which makes the lawyer furrow his eyebrows in puzzlement, “I didn’t order anything.”

His secretary enters his office. A knowing smile on his face as he carries a cup of coffee and a brown paper bag that he recognizes from the local coffee shop down the street. Prame places it on one side of Singto’s table where he knows is just for when he wants to eat.

“Someone had it delivered,” his secretary says.

Singto just stares at him in confusion, waiting for the younger man to explain.

Prame takes something from his pocket and places it directly in front of the lawyer for him to see. Before the man takes it, his secretary advises, “Not to invade your privacy, Sir, but he seems to like you.”

The man looks like he’s trying to suppress a giggle from his own words which just bewilders Singto more.

He opens the note and reads,

_Eat, you seem too busy._

_-Kit_

The lawyer scoffs, not knowing what else to do.

He reads the note three more times before looking back to his secretary who beams at him, waiting for a request.

“Find me his phone number.” Singto asks.

He sees his secretary get taken aback. He’s probably more confused that the two lawyers don’t have each other’s phone numbers than the fact that there’s been two deliveries on the same day.

Nonetheless, Prame excuses himself to do what he’s told.

Singto, well.

He’s more confused that he finds himself smiling when he sees his favorite sandwich in the bag.

The lawyer ate his food as he worked, years of university and law school have trained him for this skill. He’s good at it: multitasking. What he didn’t realize is that he wasn’t just juggling his packed schedule that day, no.

He doesn’t realize it, but he spent the day with a smile. It freaked out his secretary and the rest of his co-workers, but no one said a thing.

He spent the day with a smile and a certain man in mind.

\--

As much as he tries to deny it to himself and as much as he tries to mask it with confusion, Singto Prachaya was looking forward to his first appointment the next day, but no one has to know that.

“Sir, Atty. Sangpotirat is here.” His secretary informs him via the intercom. A few heartbeats later, the door opens.

Unlike their first meeting, Krist isn’t wearing a formal suit. Instead, he has an oversized white long-sleeved shirt, hem messily tucked into ripped denim pants and sleeves loosely rolled up to his elbows. Two of the top buttons were undone, and he’s sporting a cocky smile as he entered the room with an envelope in one hand.

Internally, Singto curses to himself.

“Good morning, Attorney.” He greets, taking a seat.

The lawyer hums, trying his best to compose himself. “Good morning, where’s the contract?”

“Oh,” Krist exclaims sarcastically, “Going straight into business already?”

He raises an eyebrow and clicks his tongue, widens his eyes in fake innocence, “This early in the day?”

Of course, he just has to open his mouth, Singto thinks to himself. He sighs, “If you don’t have a full schedule, which I assume since you’re not in your work clothes,” the lawyer dares to look at the other from head to toe.

He looks back into Krist’s eyes, “don’t think we’re the same.”

The latter nods slowly, lips in pout as if he’s thinking of his response.

“But I checked your schedule with Prame,” he points to the door behind him, “and I think your 6pm meeting got cancelled.”

His smile is as sweet as the forbidden fruit being offered, “Would you like to get dinner with me later?”

Silence fills the room as both lawyers stare each other down. One with his jaw clenched, trying to contain himself, and one who chooses to follow his gut.

Like the forbidden fruit, Krist’s eyes sparkle under the morning sunlight that enters through the glass windows.

Like the forbidden fruit, his lips stretch into a smile that Singto couldn’t help but wonder if it were sweet enough to taste.

Like the forbidden fruit, the question weighs heavily at Singto’s reach, waiting for him to take.

\--

“You said it was dinner.”

Singto sneers at the man behind the steering wheel when the car comes to a halt in a parking space of the same bar they met in days ago.

Krist kills the engine and takes his seatbelt off before taking his phone from the dashboard, “Our friends wanted to meet, I couldn’t say no.”

The elder lawyer scoffs, “’Our friends’?”

The latter stops tapping on his phone to turn to him with an unimpressed stare, “Yes. P’Gun, P’Off, P’Arm, P’Tay, and P’New. Ring a bell?”

Singto doesn’t answer, making Krist completely let go of his phone and snap his fingers near the elder’s eyes, causing him to click his tongue and back away in irritation.

“Jeez, I thought you were zoning out.”

Krist melts down in his seat and makes sure to collect his phone, wallet, and keys. The elder shrugs off his seatbelt and does the same. Before he could step out of the car, he hears the other man say, “Attorney,”

The elder lawyer looks back with an eyebrow raised.

He smirks before saying, “If you like what you see, you should take a picture of it.” His words match the rasp in his voice, almost causing a shiver down the elder’s spine.

Singto squints his eyes, “What?”

Krist smiles and tilts his head tauntingly, “You spend a lot of your time staring at me. Just tell me if you want a picture, I’ll send it right away.”

He winks and quickly opens his car door, leaning down to see the elder still frozen in his seat, “The drinks won’t wait for us, P’.”

It’s only when the door shuts with a loud sound that Singto realizes what the man said. He shakes his head as he steps out, “Fucking ass.”

He doesn’t try to catch up with the younger who was already near the place’s doors.

It’s a good thing he ate before leaving the firm or else he would be throwing a bigger tantrum when he sees his friends.

After Krist’s visit in the morning, he got a call from his own firm, needing him there. He looked mad when he left Singto’s office, nearly even cursing on the phone. He asked his day to be cleared. The man works his ass off 24/7, one day is the least he could get.

But apparently there were some issues on one of his client’s contracts that needed to be settled that day, which had him rushing back, instead of staying for another hour.

Singto must’ve sensed his distaste that after Krist gets back to his office, he gets a text from the man saying yes to his dinner date.

Err, not really a date. Off and New just asked him to haul the man out of his office one more time to get a drink with them.

That’s really all it is.

Krist plops himself down on the couch, Gun yelling in irritation when the younger practically lays down on him, “Fucking fuck off, you child!”

“No,” the younger says, his lower body on the leather of the couch and the upper is entirely on his best friend. The rest of the table laughing at his antics.

It’s uncomfortable and his back is starting to get tired, but hey, he likes to annoy his friends.

Gun tries to push him off and continues to spew foul words at him, but Krist just laughs and pretends to close his eyes and puts all his weight on the man.

He’s too preoccupied in annoying the man. His senses go on overdrive as the loud music boom in his ears, the flashing lights almost blinding him, and his best friend’s continuous hitting on his arm.

He’s too preoccupied that he doesn’t hear when someone calls Singto’s name and pushes him on Krist’s lap.

The sudden weight on his lap causes the young lawyer to shoot up into his seat, his chest instantly touching the elder’s lower back and his arms encircling the man’s waist.

“Thank you!” Gun exclaims and scoots back to his boyfriend’s side before taking a shot.

“Looking good there, Sing,” New comments as he points at the two lawyers’ position.

Arm chuckles and shakes his head from where he’s seated in front of the pair, “Who would’ve known it only takes a Singto Prachaya to shut this big baby up.”

Krist complains, “I’m not a big baby.”

“Yeah, you are,” Gun adds.

The younger turns to him with a glare, still not moving his arms away.

“I’m not, you small dwarf,” he retorts.

“Okay, but why are you still holding onto me?” The man on his lap suddenly says.

Krist stops his movements, suddenly hyperaware of the elder’s body on his. He can practically feel the vibrations of his words with how close his chest is to his back. The fabric of his clothes rubbing against his and the heat of his body against his—suddenly he’s aware of it all.

Suddenly, he’s not so confident after all.

This realization sinks into Singto, making the man smirk. Finally, he’s on top.

He uses this to his advantage, leaning towards the table to get a shot of tequila. The table was so low that he is able to arch his back, fully aware of what he’s doing.

He can feel their friends’ surprised stares, can hear some of their whistles.

The attention makes him smile to himself, but that’s not enough.

It’s not their attention that he wants.

So, he leans into the younger’s chest before taking the shot and throwing his head back. The alcohol burns down his throat, but that’s not the only heat he can feel right now.

“Go sit on the couch!” Krist scolds.

The slight crack in his voice makes Singto chuckle before twisting his body to see the man. Because of the position they’re in, he’s slightly elevated, making him look down at the younger.

Singto smirks before leaning into the man’s ear, “Isn’t this what you wanted?”

“Alright, that’s enough flirting!” Krist hears someone say before Singto gets hauled off of his lap and pushed to his side.

“The bathroom is right there if you want to fuck,” New says nonchalantly, pointing to a hallway near the bar. His words earn a nudge from Tay, but instead of scolding the younger for teasing their friends, he says, “That’s fucking nasty.”

Singto shakes his head and scoots closer to the table, taking another shot and then nibbling on a slice of lemon.

“Why are we even getting drunk at seven fucking pm?” He asks, hand hovering near the bottle of tequila.

He hears someone laugh, “ _You're_ the only one getting drunk here, Sing,” Arm says.

The lawyer turns to him, eyeing the glass of whiskey in his hand before raising an eyebrow.

“We just got here, and it’s our first glass,” Tay explains, “Unlike you who’s had his shots of tequila as soon as he sat down.”

The professor shakes his head in disbelief at his best friend’s antics. The things he does when the sun sets can really vary from incredibly smart to ridiculously stupid.

Sometimes, he wonders if Singto was some sort of witch in his past life with how the night does a lot of strange things to him. It’s like a switch that gets flipped as soon as darkness creeps in the sky. His mood, thoughts, and actions are way different in the night.

Singto blinks at his best friend before shrugging, “Whatever,” he says as he takes another shot into his mouth. The man laughs, and the topic finally shifts. Their friends’ attention drifted from them and into whatever they’re all chatting about.

Beside him, Krist has nearly melted into his seat after taking a drink from the table. His eyes focused on the mouth of the bottle he’s holding, zoning out.

He only snaps out when he gets a hard tap on the arm. He shoots an irritated glare at Singto, “What?”

“Come with me.” The man says, not bothering to wait for whatever he has to say and just walks away.

Krist takes a good look at their friends and sees that none of them are paying them any attention. He sighs before putting the bottle down and following the elder.

Once they reach the hallway where the bathrooms are, the fluorescent lights suddenly go out, leaving Krist still in his place.

Fuck.

He closes his eyes and keeps his hands on his sides, fingers fiddling on the rough denim of his pants to keep him grounded. He takes deep breaths, he tries to steady them, but with each breath he takes, his heart just beats faster.

“Krist?” He hears someone call out.

The voice almost makes him open his eyes, but the darkness over his eyelids stops him from doing so.

The next thing he hears are footsteps. Heavy steps that quickly make their way towards him until the young lawyer feels someone’s presence in front of him. His heavy breathing matching his own.

“Give me a minute,” Krist nearly pleads, his chest still heaving.

He feels someone’s hand on the side of his neck, thumb slightly grazing the skin under his jaw. “Shh, I’m here,”

“I’m not leaving anymore.” His voice sounds sweet and almost rings a bell in Krist’s head.

Slowly, reluctantly, he opens his eyes and sees Singto whose face was so close to his.

His eyes reflected the flashing lights from the far end of the hallway where they came from, and the music starts to boom louder than the blood ringing in Krist’s ears.

Singto waits for the younger’s eyes to fully open. He waits for him until he holds onto the hand that’s gently caressing the side of his neck, touch ever so comfort and familiar.

Krist closes his eyes again and takes a few more deep breaths with the elder’s help in guiding him. When he’s sure that his hands aren’t shaking and his heart doesn’t beat like it’s on a race, he opens his eyes again.

When he does, his eyes immediately meet Singto’s. He has a small smile on his lips, and Krist could practically hear him telling him how proud he is for calming himself down.

When Krist smiles back, like magic, the weak lights glow above them again. And when he smiles wider, it might be his eyes, but the lights glow brighter.

“You good now?” Singto asks, his voice careful and on edge. The younger nods, and he’s about to say his thanks when he realizes what position they were in and how close their faces were.

Krist steps back and lets go of Singto’s hand.

He tries to think of a snarky response and raises an eyebrow at the elder, trying to put on a different façade, “I thought you were going to the bathroom?”

The other man looks taken aback by his words, as if he completely forgot why he took him back. He chuckles to himself and shakes his head, “It’s nothing.”

Singto walks past him and back to the bar, “Come on.”

Krist sighs before following suit. He’s done that too much that night, and he’s not liking it one bit.

When they’re seated again, the young lawyer quickly takes two consequent tequila shots, earning a low whistle from his best friend. His skin feels prickly when he feels Singto’s burning gaze on him.

“Hey, hey, slow down, tiger,” Gun says with a chuckle.

Krist shakes his head. The burning feeling in his gut growing stronger with each second passing.

 ****\--

“Hey, you can drop me off at my office,” Singto murmurs when he takes the passenger seat once more.

He rests his head on the window and lets his eyes fall shut when his eyesight doesn’t stop spinning. It’s like he’s on a rocky boat in the middle of the pacific. He never liked the sea.

“Why? You have work tomorrow, don’t you? You could just come back for whatever you left tomorrow,” Krist replies.

It takes a few minutes before his words sink into the elder. When it does, he groans, “No, I didn’t leave anything behind.”

Krist still hasn’t turned the engine on. Even though he’s not drunk since his alcohol tolerance is high and he stopped drinking altogether after his tequila shots, he still wants to make sure he’s sober enough to drive.

He turns to look at the elder whose side profile was the only thing he can see. Even then, he can see the way his eyebrows were furrowed, and his tiny lips jutted out.

It’s cute, if you ask Krist. He’s cute, but that’s not something to be said out loud.

“I’ll sleep in the office.” Singto’s words baffles the younger. Before he could ask, the man quickly follows with, “I’ll have a fucking hangover tomorrow, and I don’t want to come to work late.”

This makes Krist chuckle, “So, you’ll sleep there?”

It takes another minute before the elder answers with a nod, eyes still shut tight but not asleep.

The younger man watches him for who knows how long. When you have alcohol in your system and the night is deep enough for the full moon to shine in its full glory, time isn’t essential.

He shakes his head and finally starts the engine. He drives off to the direction of Singto’s office.

Unlike what he expected, the elder wasn’t as drunk as he thought. When he announced that they arrived at the basement parking lot, Singto looks at him weirdly as if he’s questioning why he got dropped off in the basement than in the lobby, but he doesn’t say it.

Instead, he shrugs his seatbelt off and steps out of the car. Krist quickly kills the engine and does the same, worried that the elder would be kissing the floor any minute.

When he catches up with him, he’s walking in perfect posture except for the fact that he constantly pinches the space between his eyebrows as if he’s in pain. “P’,”

Krist’s voice causes Singto to stop walking, the elevator a couple meters away from them. They stopped in the middle of the driveway, thankfully it’s past midnight, and there’s barely any cars in sight.

The elder clicks his tongue, “Why are you still here?”

“You’re drunk,” the younger says as-a-matter-of-factly, “I’m not leaving you until I’m sure you’re okay.”

Singto stares at him as if he had grown three heads. Then, he scoffs and nods before making his way to the elevator.

The entire night, they sat beside each other, but nobody brought up their bickering and flirting from earlier. None of their friends batted an eyelash when they came back from the restrooms and Krist took consequent shots, but then stopped drinking altogether. Neither Krist nor Singto brought up what happened in the restrooms, and whether or not it’s because they’ve forgotten about doesn’t matter.

They spent the night trying to not speak to each other because they always end up either fighting or flirting, and they should’ve just kept it up until they parted. They really should’ve.

“I told you, I’m fine. You can leave now,” Singto yells from the bathroom.

It’s the third time he’s said it since he went in to take a shower, but the younger was relentless and didn’t move one bit from where he’s standing by the bookshelf, scanning and pulling out books that look the slightest bit interesting.

“Krist?” The man yells once again, making the younger roll his eyes and shut the book he’s holding close. The hardbound covers echo in the quiet of the room before he places it back and answers, “Nope!”

He continues to read the titles on each book spine until he reaches the end of the bookshelf where there’s a box that was placed atop the lower shelf. He takes it to his hands and lifts the flaps of the box.

There’s a round heavy object resting in it, and there’s a slight stench of antique metal. Carefully, he takes it out.

The music box weighs heavily on the palm of his hand. Being the curious man that he is, he inspects the object with awe at how intricately detailed it was. The object itself had a faded dark blue tint to it, and there were gold engravements of clouds and angels on the borders. Despite its condition with a few scratches and the stench of old metal, it was still beautiful.

He tries to rack his head to know why its design was so familiar but to no avail.

He feels the underside of the music box, and instead of a turnkey, there’s a keyhole in its place. Huffing, Krist holds the object upside down and stares at the hole carefully.

There’s something else engraved on it, but with how the object is old and beaten up, it’s barely even readable.

He’s too focused on the music box that he doesn’t hear when the shower closes, and Singto steps out of the bathroom, now in a pair of sweatpants and t-shirt.

He walks to the younger whose eyes were still on the object in his hands. He clears his throat to get the man’s attention and successfully does so.

“I told you to leave already,” Singto says.

Krist sighs and places the object back in its box before putting his hands on both sides of his hips, “And I told you I’m not leaving you.”

“I’m fine,” the elder says, stepping closer. Krist rolls his eyes, “You’re not.”

Singto looks at him in disbelief before scoffing, “I’m already sober.”

The younger raises an eyebrow and steps forward, the distance between them barely half an arm’s length. “How can you be so sure?”

The latter man tilts his head as if he’s being challenged, then the corners of his lips raise slightly as if he’s accepted.

One moment they’re staring each other down, but the next thing Krist knows, his back is on the bookshelf, and the elder had nearly eliminated all space between them.

Except, he looks deep into the man’s eyes. He taunts, “I’m okay, Kit.”

The younger replicates his confidence as if it were perfectly easy. He hums, “Prove it.”

The last thing he sees before closing his eyes is the way the moonlight shone outside the glass windows of Singto’s office. The last thing he hears before silence floods the room is the elder’s chuckles. The last thing he feels were the man’s hands on his hips before catching the younger’s lips in between his.

Singto’s lips pressed harshly on the other’s, pressing his body onto his way too much that Krist could almost feel every curve of each book’s spine. It should be uncomfortable, but they’ve been playing push and pull for far too long that he nearly gasps in desperation and relief with every slide of his lips.

The elder grips tighter on his hips, making him groan into the man’s mouth.

Krist’s lips were as pillowy as it seemed the first time they met. They may annoy Singto on a regular day, but right now, at this minute, it’s as heavenly as he imagined.

Their mouths slot into each other’s perfectly, and they grip each other’s bodies as if they fit like puzzle pieces. When Singto rests one hand on the back of the younger’s neck, when Krist grips at the elder’s shirt like his life depended on it, each movement was like muscle memory.

Time isn’t essential when you’re buried deeply into the night with nothing but the moonlight and the stars hovering above you. It’s impossible to make sense of what the heavenly bodies could do to your own when the night gives you everything you’ve ever wanted.

When it becomes difficult to catch their breaths, Singto nibbles the younger’s upper lip before pulling away. Krist’s whine and the way he chases after the other’s lips doesn’t come unnoticed.

The room is filled in silence except for their tired breaths. Their eyes never leave each other’s just like how the moonlight follows their every move.

Singto smirks, “You should start believing what I say.”

\--

Trying to forget that night was unexpectedly easy for both lawyers since they’ve been swamped with work. Two nights of drinking in the same week have to have consequences, after all. With the number of pending cases and contract revisions, there’s no time to talk with friends outside of work.

It’s three days later when Singto’s locked up in his office once again that he gets a phone call. Not looking at the contact, he presses the green button and puts it on speaker, “Hello?”

The person on the other line greets warmly, “Sing.”

Her voice makes the lawyer smile, “P’Alice, how are you?”

“I’m good, terribly busy with work. You?” The elder answers with a chuckle.

Singto purposely types louder on his keyboard, “Working hard as we speak.”

Alice laughs and the younger could practically see her shake her head. “Oh right! I heard you just became senior partner recently, P’. Congratulations,” Singto exclaims.

The elder hums, “It’s no biggie.”

Her words make both of them laugh, but even so, Singto knows it’s true.

Alice was his senior in law school. She had tutored him multiple times and had helped him learn the nooks and crannies of the field they’re in. She has all the connections one would need in order to be on top, and it’s safe to say that she knows everything like the back of his hand.

“You should come visit sometime, Sing. We haven’t caught up in a while,” she says.

Singto chuckles, “I’m not sure about that, P. My hands are pretty much full for the next few weeks.”

“What a hardworking man you are!” Alice exclaims, making the younger man laugh since it’s been a while since he heard her talk like an old person.

He remembers the time in law school when they first met. He thought of her as peculiar because from time to time, she would use words that are centuries outdated. That didn’t stop her to have many friends tailing after her in the day, but in the night, you’d find her in one corner of the library with a pile of books surrounding her.

They practically became friends because of their crazy similarities since Singto always found himself working best deep in the night, and he would never want to change that one bit.

“Yeeeeah,” Alice stretches her words with the yawn she lets out, “but that’s not why I called.”

Singto hums in question, still working on a contract revision.

“A little birdie told me you have your eyes on someone,” she says in singsong.

Her words make the younger freeze. The sudden absence of the loud typing on the keyboard makes the lady on the other side of the line squeal, “I knew it!”

Singto shakes his head and laughs quietly before answering, “Who lied to you?”

Alice makes an offended gasp, “Why would anyone lie to me?”

The younger rolls his eyes, “Well, whoever that birdie is, they’re lying.”

“I don’t like someone,” he says with finality.

“Sure, and I didn’t work my ass off tutoring you so you could hide shit from me. You know I know you like my own brother,” she says continuously like how a mother would scold her child, “now spill.”

Singto goes back to typing the last clause that needed revisions. He presses on his keyboard with fervor, and the sound it creates echoes around the room.

It’s true. He doesn’t like anyone, not even Krist. The man pisses him off sometimes, and even though he managed to catch his interest, that’s not enough reason for him to have apt feelings.

That’s just not how emotions work, and Alice knows that.

She knows that because it’s her who taught Singto to think like that. So, the fact that she’s bringing this question up only means whatever information was fed to her must’ve been intriguing enough. Otherwise, she would’ve dropped the topic before it entered her office.

Singto sighs in defeat, knowing what the elder wants, “When do you want me to come by your office?”

He can practically hear her smile when she says, “Tomorrow after lunch?”

The younger tries to rack his brain to remember if he has an important schedule at that hour. “I’ll let you know, P’,” he answers.

They stay on the phone for a couple more minutes before Singto has to leave for a meeting. Before the call ends, the woman reminds him of their plan for the next day and tells him she’d inform his secretary as well. Singto just agrees with a chuckle, knowing fully well he doesn’t have a say against Alice’s requests since it’s so rare for her to ask for him.

Once Alice said her goodbyes and the call has been dropped, she quickly sinks into his office chair, biting on her lower lips and squinting her eyes as she lets her thoughts go about and put themselves into pieces.

A knock on the door causes her eyes to shift towards it, wondering who it could be. She doesn’t have anything scheduled until later that day, so her secretary doesn’t need to ring the intercom unless it’s something urgent. “Come in!” She calls.

The door opens and she lets go of the breath she’s nearly held when she realizes who it was.

“P’, they didn’t have green tea anymore, so I bought you chai instead,” the man says as he puts the drinks down on Alice’s table.

The senior partner coos and reaches out to her drink, “Thanks, baby bro.”

The man rolls his eyes and takes a seat, immediately taking a sip from his own drink before replying, “Not your baby bro.”

His words make Alice stop her movements, the straw hovering slightly above the container’s lid. Like always, she hides the way her chest aches with a smile, “Whatever, Kit.”

“So, who was that on the phone?” The younger asks, getting cozy in his seat. It’s not often that they get to have their lunch break. Usually, they’d be locked in their own offices working or out at a lunch meeting.

Alice shrugs, “An old friend.”

Krist nods, knowing how secretive the senior partner is.

They’ve only known each other for a couple years, since the younger entered the firm, but that small amount of time didn’t matter since Alice was keen on getting to know the then-associate Krist. Their workmates even told him about how the moment the then-junior partner laid his eyes on him, she wanted to get to know him. Everybody thought she liked him until she revealed that she’s been married for years.

Silence fills the room, and Krist tries to distract himself from his own thoughts that remind him of the last time he spent silence in a room with someone. They haven’t talked about that yet, and it’s probably because there’s nothing to talk about.

After the kiss, Krist immediately excused himself and made his way home. All he hopes is that it won’t cause awkwardness between them because it seemed like their friend groups are getting along way better than they are.

Then he’s reminded of the odd music box he saw in the man’s office.

“Hey, do you remember that necklace you gave me?” Krist asks.

Alice sips on his latte before nodding, “You mean the key?”

The younger squints, “It’s a key?”

“Doesn’t it look like one?” She retorts as-a-matter-of-factly, causing the man to roll his eyes at her attitude. “Why? What about it?” Alice asks.

Krist plays with the straw poking from his plastic cup, “Does it go with something?”

Alice furrows her eyebrows, “What do you mean?”

The younger lawyer shrugs, “Is it a real key for something?”

His words must’ve had an effect on her because seconds later, the senior partner smiles timidly and looks into the man’s eyes, “Do _you_ think it has a match?”

Krist grimaces at how serious the elder looks. It’s like she knows something. Typical Alice. “I’m literally asking you.”

She laughs and shrugs, “I don’t know, Kit. You tell me.”

“If you think it can open something, then why don’t you try using it?”

The younger squints, “You’re impossible.”

This makes her throw her head back in laughter, “That’s why I’m a good lawyer!”

Krist shakes his head, knowing fully well that he won’t be getting anything from the lady. He checks his phone and sees the time, immediately jolting to his feet.

“Got a meeting in five. See you later!” He says as he makes his way to the door.

“Client?” Alice calls.

As his hand twists the doorknob, he turns to look at her before answering, “A settlement!”

**—**

“It’s about time this was settled,” Singto sighs as he takes the seat across Krist, their clients beside them respectively.

“Honestly,” Krist mumbles, taking out the contracts.

There really was no need for both parties to meet since they just needed to sign the contracts. It’s a settlement agreement between Gun and his brother on how their inherited assets were to be divided.

When the contracts were each in their clients’ hands, Krist tries to catch the other lawyer’s eyes, because ever since he arrived, he never looked at him. He knows it’s perfectly normal for them to act professional and all that, but it still doesn’t sit well with him that he’s being ignored.

After the contract signing and that legal shebang, Singto and his client excuse themselves to leave. Now, Krist knows how busy he is because he, too, has a full-packed schedule.

That doesn’t stop him from calling the elder’s name, though.

“P’Sing,” Krist’s chair makes noise from how it was forcefully dragged against the floor when he stood up. The other lawyer turns to him, eyes blank behind those spectacles.

“Do you want to get some coffee?” The younger asks.

He waits for his answer, loudly praying in his head that he’d accept. He doesn’t know why, but he just wants to be him right now.

Normally, he’d feel like he has control over his body. Especially during the day when it’s not raining and the sun is bright, no matter how much it’s blazing and painful on the skin, he likes it better than the dim clouds. But now, something doesn’t feel right. Ever since he woke up, he’s been clumsier and more out of it. He constantly feels like throwing up, and that is not, in any way, good.

Now, for some fucking reason he can’t point out, he craves Singto’s presence.

The elder shakes his head, “I’m a bit busy today.”

Disappointment must have been painted on Krist’s face because the man fully turns his body to his and gives him a small smile, “Next time?”

It’s not like he has any choice.

Krist returns the smile and nods, “Be safe.”

The elder bids him and Gun goodbye, and Krist watches his car leave. He waits for it to fully disappear from his sight until he hears his best friend say, “What was that all about?”

The lawyer turns to him, a surprised look on his face. Gun mimics this before raising an eyebrow.

He crosses his arms over his chest, “Something happened.”

“What?” the younger answers, settling back in his chair and sipping on his iced tea.

“Why are you all clingy and needy today?” Gun asks.

Krist shrugs because even he can’t answer that. He can’t think of anything to explain it except—

“I just feel like I should be with him, you know?”

His best friend stares at him as if he grew three heads. Then he shakes his head and chuckles, taking his drink to his lips before mumbling, “Whipped.”

The younger rolls his head and takes a sheet of tissue from the table, crumpling it up and throwing it at his friend who yells, “Don’t litter, the fuck!”

“I don’t like him like that.” Krist says that makes the man bark out a laugh, “Sure, whatever makes you sleep at night.”

A pout makes its way on the lawyer’s lips at the mention of sleep. “Actually,”

“I’ve been having trouble sleeping these days. Do you know any good pills?”

Gun glares at him, “Dude, don’t do sleeping pills.”

“Well, do you have anything else in mind that might help me sleep?”

The elder hums. He takes his phone out and scrolls through it for a few moments before saying, “You could try tea?”

Krist shakes his head, “Already did.”

“Lo-fi?”

“I listen to that all the time.”

“Nyquil?”

The younger furrows his eyebrows, “Isn’t that as bad as sleeping pills?”

Gun sighs, “I have nothing else.” The lawyer tilts his head and raises his cup, silently saying, “I told you so.”

His best friend doesn’t put his phone down, and it’s not like that’s new to them. Unlike when they’re with their other friends, when Gun and Krist are together, it’s either they’re ridiculously loud or blank quiet on their phones.

Krist focuses on sipping on his drink and zoning out, perfectly aware of how his pupils must be dilated as he stares at the wooden table in front of them.

He tries to think of how he’ll try to sleep later that night. His trouble sleeping began after what happened in Singto’s office. It caused him to think that he’s starting to have feelings with the man which is absolutely ridiculous because they just made out.

But then, he was never good with feelings, so that’s a reason a bit difficult to stand by.

He’s considered this so many times, but it always ends up with him questioning his feelings towards the elder. They haven’t known each other for more than a few weeks. It’s impossible to catch romantic feelings just because of physical attraction, right?

He doesn’t like feeling so lost with his own emotions, so he tries to bury it underneath all the other possibilities. Each time, he fails.

Beside him, Gun suddenly hums, causing the younger to turn to him.

The man flips his phone and shows him a news article while saying, “Maybe this is the reason why you can’t sleep.”

Krist raises an eyebrow, looks past the phone and stares at his friend with distrust, “A solar eclipse? Are you kidding me?”

The elder puts his phone down and shrugs, “What? You’ve always been a day person.”

“What does that have anything to do with my inability to sleep soundly?”

Gun pouts as if bracing himself before sighing heavily, “Look,”

“It’s like how people say that Mercury being in retrograde had negative effects on them.”

Krist snickers in disbelief but lets the man go on with his rant.

“Maybe your insomnia is caused by the upcoming solar eclipse.” He finishes with a shrug.

The lawyer shakes his head, “I didn’t know you believe in such things.”

Gun rolls his eyes, “There’s nothing wrong with it!”

“Who knows? Maybe I’m right,” he says with a wink.

He’s not. The solar eclipse can’t be the reason why Krist can’t sleep because he knows exactly the reason why. He just doesn’t want to admit it.

So, he goes with his friend’s antics. There _is_ nothing wrong with giving it a shot, after all.

“When is that eclipse even?” He asks.

Gun beams at his words before looking back to his phone. He scrolls through it, probably searching for the date when the eclipse will occur.

He looks back up to his friend and shows his phone screen once again, “Tomorrow afternoon.”

Krist hums and nods, “Okay fine.”

“Let’s say that the solar eclipse is causing my distress at night,” his friend grins at him and nods, liking where the conversation is going.

“And after tomorrow, I’ll be able to sleep soundly. If that happens, then what?” He asks.

The question causes the elder’s energy to drop. On the contrary, he doesn’t like where the conversation went.

“If that happens, _then_ I’m right!” Gun says as if it were common sense.

Krist just shakes his head, “Whatever. Just make sure this works.”

The man snickers, “You don’t have to do anything. You’ll just wait for the eclipse to pass.”

The lawyer sighs.

He knows this doesn't have any connection with his problem. But, there's nothing wrong in believing, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! this was originally a [thread](https://twitter.com/singtolovebot/status/1274630963121676288?s=20) on twitter.
> 
> i hope you like it because this fic means a lot to me. tell me your thoughts! [i'm on twitter](https://twitter.com/singtolovebot)


	2. Chapter 2

There’s something wrong.

All Krist wanted to do when he woke up the next day was to throw his friend over a cliff and let him drown. He got out of bed after five snoozes because his head was just not cooperating.

He can barely open his eyes without flinching with how his head felt like it was being smashed open, and every bit of light he comes across brings utter pain to him which is why he put on dark sunglasses even when he arrived at work.

His floormates look at him weirdly and some even ask him, “What’s with the shades?”

The lawyer just snickers humorlessly, “Eyesore,” and they’d grimace at him and advice to drop by the infirmary.

He just nods at them and bids thanks, not in the right mindset to hold a proper conversation. With each step he takes, the side of his head throbs more. It affects his mood so much that he can’t bear the usual loud tapping of keyboards in the office.

Before he could enter his office, someone calls out to him. Voice so loud that it nearly made him lash out.

“Krist!”

The lawyer turns to the person and forces a small smile, “P’Alice, good morning.”

The senior partner raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms over her chest, “It doesn’t look like a good morning to you.”

He tries to shake his head, but the wave of pain caused him to frown instead.

Alice furrows her eyebrows steps closer to the younger, “You should rest that head of yours before working.”

Krist knows. He _knows_. That’s why he wants to get into his office and rest before his day starts. Maybe bang his head against the table, the wall could work too, whichever is more effective in easing his migraine.

“I’ll get through this,” he utters, voice raspy and his words slurring, probably a side effect.

Alice sighs and takes something out of her pocket before reaching it out to the younger lawyer.

He takes the packet of pills into his hands and inspects it. The pills look normal: small and circular, but the foil didn’t have any labels on it.

Krist raises it and manages to let out a chuckle, “Is this even safe?”

The senior partner shakes her head and snickers, “It doesn’t have a label because I had them personally made. Remember my friend from a pharma company?”

The younger hums in answer even though he does not remember anyone.

“It’s effective and safe as long as you only take one, so don’t worry,” she reassures the lawyer.

Krist takes one last look at the packet before smiling timidly, “Thanks, P’.”

Alice nods and shoos him away, “Now, get inside before you accidentally lash out on someone.”

He’s a bit confused with the elder’s words, but maybe it’s because incessant pain can make some people frantic. Well, that’s how he feels at the moment.

Krist enters his office and immediately opens his laptop, lets it work as he groans and curses at how with every second passing, the pain doesn’t seem to subside.

He tries massaging the temples of his forehead, tries to shut his eyes tight, but it just made his eyesight worse.

The aching doesn’t stop. It comes to a point that he doesn’t realize tears prickling at the side of his eyes, he’s unconsciously whimpering in pain as he throws his head back to his chair.

Then, his mind goes to the medicine Alice gave him earlier.

Thoughts in shambles and logic malfunctioning, he takes it from where it was thrown haphazardly on the table when he entered the room.

It’s not that he doesn’t trust the elder, he does. Alice is one of the few people he trusts in his life. But he doesn’t consume everything he’s given, you know, like a normal person.

This time, though, he’s desperate. His head continues to throb like there’s an axe being bashed on his skull repeatedly.

Weakly, he gets the bottle of water his secretary placed on the table. He takes a pill into his mouth and immediately flushes it with water.

Unlike other pills he’s taken before, this had a palpable aftertaste that overwhelms his taste buds as soon as he swallows the medicine down. Usually, pills as small as this had little to no flavor, but this tasted like oranges and vanilla.

Krist’s favorites.

“What the fuck,” he mutters to himself.

He takes another gulp of water before placing the bottlecap back and putting it down. He sighs, rests his eyes, and leans back into his chair, worrying about how long the day is going to be.

It takes a few minutes before his headache subsides until it disappeared. The lawyer opens his eyes, feeling as though he never had a migraine in the first place.

He feels the sunlight beaming through the windows behind him, its warmth back to being comforting instead of bringing excruciating pain to him mere minutes ago.

Maybe the medicine Alice gave is effective after all.

He takes one last huff before leaning into the intercom, “What’s my schedule for today?”

\--

It’s not uncommon for anyone in the field of law to sport headaches, body aches, and heart aches on weekly basis.

So, Tay isn’t surprised when he gets a call from Singto’s secretary, telling him to go to his office, and sees that the man is lying on the carpeted floor of his office and staring at the ceiling.

Face void of any emotion, he says, “My head fucking hurts,” before closing his eyes and takes steady breaths as if trying to control himself.

The professor chuckles and shuts the door close behind him, “Did you go out partying last night?”

Even with his eyes closed, Singto frowns at his friend, “Do you think I’m an idiot?”

He glares at the elder before uttering, “I have a lot of paperwork I need to finish, why would I party for the third time this month?”

Tay shrugs, “I don’t know, why would you?”

Singto closes his eyes and rolls over so he’s lying on his stomach before groaning so loud that his friend is worried the other people on their floor would think they’re doing something other than talking about a headache.

“Get up, now. How long have you been lying on the floor? I thought you had a lot of shit to do?” The elder tries to console and pull him up from the carpet, but the lawyer isn’t very keen on cooperating.

“I don’t know,” Singto finally manages to get up on his feet, “Somewhere between two minutes and two hours, I guess?”

The professor has his hands on both side of the lawyer’s arms, guiding him to his office chair.

“Are you sure you’re not drunk?” Tay asks when he finally had the man in his seat.

Singto glares at him, “I want to smash a beer bottle on your head.”

The elder widens his eyes, backs away, and puts his hands up in the air, “Damn, somebody’s pissed.”

The lawyer shakes his head, only to whine at the sudden wave of pain crashing onto him like a tornado. He leans into his chair, rubbing the temples of his forehead.

“Prame,” Tay’s loud voice makes Singto frown. When he opens his eyes, the man is on his intercom, probably talking to his secretary. “How long has this big baby been on the floor?”

The lawyer flips his best friend off with his middle finger before going back to whimpering in pain.

“Fifteen minutes, sir.” The man on the other line says.

Tay sits on the chair across Sing. Laughing, he says, “You’re a big baby.”

“Fuck you,” Singto mumbles.

They sit in the office in silence. Even though the elder would love to annoy his friend, he lets him collect himself because he has a lot of work on his plate.

The intercom sounds, and Prame speaks, “Sir, a reminder that you have a lunch meeting with Atty. Tsoi at her office.”

Tay looks at his best friend as the man answers weakly, “Yes, thank you.”

“You can always bail on Alice, Sing. She won’t mind,” the elder says, knowing that his law school classmate wouldn’t react badly.

Singto sits in silence as if contemplating, but he shakes his head and stands up, Tay immediately going to his side. The lawyer picks up his phone and wallet before trying to walk.

“I just probably need a break. Haven’t slept in days,” he says.

When Tay was confident that his friend was the least bit okay, he followed him out of his office.

“I had too much work piled up because you _idiots_ took me out to party too many times,” Singto says with fake spite.

The elder chuckles, “Whatever you say, man.”

\--

Tay insisted to drive his friend to his meeting, knowing damn well that he couldn’t drive with his headache.

It doesn’t take them more than ten minutes to get to the law firm where Alice works as senior partner. It is in the same high-end district as Singto’s workplace and Tay’s university, after all. The familiar skyscrapers loom over them when Tay’s car comes to a halt by the building’s lobby.

“You sure you’re good?” The professor asks.

Singto takes his seatbelt off and nods, “Fine.”

“Alright, now get out of my car. I have to drive back to the uni to catch the solar eclipse viewing.” Tay quickly shoos his friend away.

The lawyer furrows his eyebrows, “There’s a solar eclipse today?”

The elder nods, “In like,” he looks at his wristwatch before answering, “Five minutes.”

His eyes widen and immediately tries to open the younger’s door and pushing him away, “Get out. Out, out, out.”

Singto stumbles as he steps out of the car, muttering curses under his breath. The door shuts behind him, and the window rolls down, Tay bids goodbye before driving away, leaving a baffled Singto who shakes his head and enters the building with a sigh.

The people at the reception were already familiar with him. Not only because he’s a renowned lawyer, but he used to intern in the firm where Alice works at. So, when they see him at this building, they know who he has an appointment with.

“Attorney,” the receptionist greets with a smile, “Are you here for Miss Tsoi?”

The lawyer returns the smile, “Is she up?”

The receptionist types on her computer before confirming, “She’s in her office. You know the way, right?”

Singto nods and bids his thanks before making his way to the row of elevators which he does so with no problem other than trying his best to smile at people who recognized him. He doesn’t realize it because it happens gradually, but with every step he took and with every change of number on the elevator’s screen, his headache subsides.

It’s a quick ride to the 12th floor where his friend’s department was, and once the elevator door opens, he takes his phone out to tap a call.

“Hello?” Alice answers.

Singto steps into the familiar halls of the place he used to intern at. It’s been years, but this was the first time he visited it again. Usually, he and Alice would meet at the building’s common area at the sixth floor. It’s rare that he’d go to her office.

“P’, I’m here.” The man says as he walks to the floor’s reception area. He states his appointment and is quickly guided to the senior partner’s office.

“Thank you,” he hears the woman say on the other side of the phone, but the audio was slurry, making Singto think she has the mic covered.

The lawyer shrugs it off, thinking it’s her secretary.

He knocks on the elder’s door and twists the knob, but before he could even enter, someone pulls it open and there’s a body crashing onto him.

It’s a good thing his reflexes kicked in and he had his arms around the person or else they’d both be on the floor.

“Are you okay?” The lawyer asks, steadying both of them.

The man steps back to look at him, and Singto is surprised to see a familiar face.

“Kit?” He asks.

His astonishment is replaced with worry when he sees the younger’s expressionless eyes. His eyelids were drooping as if he was close to falling asleep. Behind him, Singto sees Alice on her feet, watching them in shock.

Past Alice is the large floor-to-ceiling window that oversees the corporate streets, just like in Singto’s office. Usually, the room should be well-lit and bathing in the afternoon sun, but now, it’s dim.

The eclipse has begun.

Singto looks back to the lawyer in front of him, Krist is smiling bashfully at him. The same way he did back at his office under the silver moonlight.

“P’Sing,” his words are slurred, and that’s when the elder notices how he looks dazed.

“Hey,” Singto tries to put his hands on the younger to steady him, but he shrugs it off and takes another step back, “Are you okay?”

He shakes his head, but lifts his hand and puts his thumb and index finger together, “I’m okay—”

Before Krist could even finish his words, he faints.

—

_“We can set our differences aside,” the man in front of him says—pleads, even._

_Krist doesn’t know where he is, but it felt like he should know. He can’t put a name on it, but he feels like he should know every bit of the place he’s in._

_The air smells like oranges and vanilla bean—his favorites._

_But there’s also the smell of smoke and burnt wood that’s mixed with his favorite scent. Even though he doesn’t look around, he knows there are two cauldrons instilled on opposite sides of the room—one where the sun rises and one where the moonlight shines._

_He shakes his head, teeth gritting as he says, “This isn’t something we can bargain with.”_

_The person he’s talking to squints at him, looking displeased at their conversation. Krist feels the cold breeze radiating from him, nearly making the hair on his arms stand._

_“We’re not having this conversation.” The man turns away from him, walking to his side of the potion room._

_Potion room._

_At the thought of the place’s name, images of dried flowers hanging from the wooden ceiling wash over Krist’s mind. Even without looking around, somehow, he knows how many different kinds of plants and animals are in the room—dead or alive. He knows each name and what each of them are for, what ingredient is for which potion. He knows it all like he spent lifetimes making them._

_He follows the man even when he had his back turned to him and was instead on the huge book propped on the counter._

_“P’Sing, this is the only way we can stop the war.” Krist lets the words flow out of his mouth, and that’s when he realizes he can’t control his own body._

_When he called him by his name, that’s when he knew he isn’t in his own body._

_He’s in a different life._

_The man he called Sing stops what he’s doing and turns to look at him, eyes staring back at him filled with fatigue. The area under his eyes were dark as if he didn’t have enough sleep._

_Somehow, Krist’s mind thinks of how the man doesn’t really sleep in the night because that’s when his power is more potent because he gets it from the silver light._

_“I’m not letting you go just for this ridiculous war to end,” Singto steps closer until he’s less than arm’s length from the man._

_He looks tired, he feels tired, but above it all, Krist could feel how important he was to him._

_Singto lifts his hand and cups the younger’s cheek. Almost on instinct, Krist’s eyes fall shut as he nuzzles into the man’s palm._

_He stares deep into the younger’s eyes, “I will love you in this lifetime,” he places a kiss on Krist’s forehead, “and in the next,” a kiss on the tip of his nose, “and in the one after that, no matter what.” He rubs their noses together, making the younger giggle._

_“Do you understand?” The moon warlock asks, resting his forehead on the other man’s._

_Krist feels himself smile; warmth more than what the sun could ever give to him embraces his body. It’s the kind of warmth that brought him solace and smelled like fresh baked bread on a Sunday morning._

_The kind of warmth that only comes when you don’t try to find it._

_It’s the kind that finds him when he feels lost._

_It is warmth that only his man of the moonlight could give him._

_He nods, but even then, he knows that that was the last time they would be in each other’s arms._

\--

“Witches and warlocks are immortal unless they take their own life, that’s the rule.”

Krist tries to open his eyes only to close it again after being blinded by the artificial light bouncing against the white walls. He tries to relax his eyes before opening it again, now able to adjust to how bright the room is.

He lets his sight drift, scanning the room until he finds something familiar. He’s on a bed in a small room. Its walls, ceiling, floor, the blanket covering him—every inch of it was white. And there, by the window that’s covered with white curtains, two familiar figures converse.

“If we’re immortal then why—” Singto’s words get cut off when he senses someone staring at him.

He turns to look at the man on the bed and sees that he’s awake.

The previous distress on his face was replaced with relief and joy when he lays his eyes on Krist. He walks to his side, pulls a chair that was apparently on the wall, and sits by the younger man’s side.

He quickly takes the younger’s hands into his, touch so gentle as if he were fragile. Hands so warm that Krist feels his stomach twist in nostalgia.

Warmth.

Singto smiles, “How are you?”

The younger lawyer blinks at him, unfamiliar images and memories he doesn’t remember having floods his mind. In each one of it, the elder was there with him.

He’s about to bring them up. He’s about to tell the other lawyer about the strange memories he sees, but it disappeared as quick as he remembers them.

Weird.

He tries to smile, finds that his face muscles are tight from sleeping.

“Fine, I guess?” His words come out raspy from not using it. Damn, how long has he even been out for his body to feel like it ran a marathon.

Krist tries to sit up, and the elder quickly helps him so he’s leaning on the headboard with an ample number of pillows to make him comfortable enough.

“What happened?” He asks, then he remembers the other person in the room.

He turns to Alice, seeing her watch them. She looks like she’s about to cry, eyes glossy and lips slightly pursed. “P’?”

When Krist called out to her, that’s when she finally snaps out of her gaze and quickly walks to the other side of the bed. She sits by the younger’s foot, movement careful and light like she’s walking on ice.

“What happened?” The lawyer repeats.

Alice puts on a tight smile before chuckling humorlessly, “You passed out.”

“Yeah, it’s obvious.” Krist retorts, earning a snicker from the man beside him. He turns to him and asks, “What are you doing here?”

Singto shrugs smugly, “You passed out on _me_ , Kit.”

His words cause blood to rise to the younger’s cheeks, but he quickly gets himself together and retorts, “But that doesn’t mean you had to wait for me to wake up.”

“How many hours have I even been here?” He asks, clicking his tongue in annoyance, thinking about how irresponsible he is to have left all his workload behind.

He has to get back to the office immediately or else he’d have a shit ton of backlogs and revisions.

Instead of an answer, silence creeps in the room. When he realized no one replied to him, Krist looks at Singto, only to find him exchanging a weird look with Alice.

It’s as if they’re having a conversation of their own while Krist waits like a pathetic child.

“Kit,” Alice starts. The younger answers with a “Huh?”, eager to know the answer to his simple question.

He hears Singto sigh from his side like he was tired. That’s when Krist realizes he was wearing a plain black shirt over denim pants—definitely not office wear.

The fact that he’s no longer in the same clothes since Krist last saw him brings panic to the man, worried of his next words.

“You’ve been asleep for three days.”

—

When Krist fainted on him, Singto couldn’t deny the panic that washed over him. It was like his senses went blank. He didn’t hear footsteps rushing towards them, Alice’s calls, or people asking if Krist was okay. All his attention was on him.

When Alice took them to her house instead of the hospital, he didn’t bat an eyelash. All that mattered that time was Krist’s safety. He would’ve stayed with him and waited for him to wake up if it weren’t for Alice practically kicking him out of her house after saying that Krist won’t be waking up anytime soon.

Confused, Singto left him with her to finish his schedule for the day. His body was at work, but his mind was somewhere else.

When he came back the next day and found that the younger was still not awake, he began to worry and ask if he needs to go to the hospital. Alice reassures him he’s okay and convinces him to go back to work. Even when he met with clients and had a court trial that day, his body was at work, but his mind was somewhere else.

On the third day, when he checks up on Krist and finds that he’s still not awake, he starts to question his friend’s words.

“He just fainted. Why is he still asleep?” Singto confronts the senior partner, pulling her to one corner, Krist sleeping soundly in the middle of the white room.

Alice smiles, “Let him sleep. It will do him good.” The younger frowns, “What happened to him?”

The lady in front of him shakes her head, “No biggie,” she turns her head to look at the sleeping lawyer before turning her eyes back to Singto, “It’s a side effect.”

Unknowingly, the younger balls his fists, eyes squinted, and his jaw clenched, “What happened to him?” He says, voice heavier than before.

Alice’s smile fades and she looks back at the younger’s eyes. Her previously calm face was now stoic and void of any emotion. Her expression almost causes the hair on his arms to stand. They’ve known each other for years, but this was the first time the elder looked terrifying. It was like she could rip someone’s head off and take a stake to someone’s heart by just looking at them.

Even though he doesn’t show it, he knows Alice could sense the fear from his eyes, and that he’s trying his best not to crack. They stare each other down until the senior partner closes her eyes. When she opens them, they’re back to the peaceful ones Singto’s familiar with.

“It’s a side effect of the solar eclipse,” she turns to look at Krist again, now with a longing smile as if she’s known the younger for far more than anyone could ever tell.

The same smile melts just as fast as they crept on her face. The nostalgic look she had was no replaced with her lips pursed and her eyebrows slightly furrowed. She shakes her head, “I knew something would happen. I just wasn’t sure what."

Her words only bring more confusion to Singto, “Wait, what?”

“What do you mean the solar eclipse—can you explain or are you going crazy?” The man asks. His last words cause Alice to roll her eyes. She leans towards him and flicks a finger on his forehead, making the man yelp.

“I’m not crazy,” she says with fervor as she crosses her arms.

“Okay, but can you _explain_?” Singto asks again, nursing his reddening forehead.

“Krist was my brother,” the senior partner says. This makes the younger raise an eyebrow, but before he could say anything, the lady stops him with her index finger in the air, “Don’t cut me off.”

Singto nods, hoping he won’t get more confused than he already is.

“He was my brother in his previous life.”

Yeah, Singto’s getting more confused.

“Believe it or not, witches and warlocks exist—”

“What the fu—”

“I said don’t cut me off!” Alice yells in irritation, not even sparing a look at Krist if her voice had woken her up.

Singto makes a motion with his lips as if zipping them. She’s scary when she’s mad, no confusion there.

“Witches and warlocks lived among normal people back in the 17th century, and there still are in this time.” She sighs before saying, “I’m one of them.”

“I’m a sun witch, I get my magic from the sun and thrive during the day. But throughout the centuries, I learned how to balance my energy in the daylight and when the moon is up.”

The younger tilts his head, “Centuries?”

Alice nods, “Yes, centuries. Do you even pay attention?”

“Anyway,” she takes a deep breath, “I’m not the only magic being here, Krist is too.” She points at the man lying on the bed, making Singto turn to him as well.

He looks peaceful sleeping soundly, not hearing one bit of his friend’s loud voice. Seeing him in a calm state and knowing that he’s getting rest brings a smile on Singto’s face without him knowing.

In front of him, Alice sighs tiredly as if she knows what goes on in the man’s head. Instead of pointing it out, she continues her story.

“You are too,” this makes the lawyer turn to her, confusion painted on his face. “I’m what?”

“You’re a warlock too.” The senior partner repeats.

Singto squints, “How do you even know that? I understand Krist’s because you said he’s your brother, but like—”

Alice groans, her eyes looking up at the ceiling. Irritation and frustration flood her system, and all she wants to do is smack the living shit out of his friend.

“Did you even open the music box I sent you?” Singto quickly shakes his head, not knowing what the hell she was talking about. This makes the elder roll her eyes. “I told you!” She yells, but her next words come in a hushed voice. Her eyes bearing into the younger’s. “Witches and warlocks are immortal unless they take their own life, that’s the rule.”

Singto furrows his eyebrows, “If we’re immortal then why—”

His question gets cut off when he gets the sudden eerie feeling of someone staring at him.

When he quickly turned to look at the bed and found Krist already looking back at him, his stomach twists in a way that causes a smile to creep on his face. Just like that, all his attention is on Krist.

Alice’s words and the many questions in his head fade into the background when his eyes are on the man who just woke up from his long slumber.

When he sits on a stool next to him and takes the younger’s hands into his, the only thought that rises in the sea of Singto’s mind was that if red strings were real, he had felt that his was tied with Krist.

If they really had magic in their souls, then he wouldn’t mind using it to make sure their red strings are tied together tightly. 

\--

Taking care of Krist proved to be a difficult task for multiple reasons.

For one, Singto can’t really take care of someone who’s working at a rival firm while he had a packed schedule and needed to fulfill his job if he wants to be senior partner in shorter time. Consequently, Krist was also keen to finish _his_ work that had piled up. Even though Alice filed for his medical leave and their bosses understand his situation, it doesn’t sit well with him that he neglected his tasks, albeit unintentional.

During this time, all Singto can do is make sure he’s okay and eating well.

“Hello—”

“Yes, Sing, he just had lunch. Yes, I gave him the food you had sent. Yes, he said thank you. Yes, he said he’ll call back to you if he gets the chance.” Alice says continuously, her voice coming out exasperatedly.

The younger lawyer huffs, “You’re pissy.”

“I’m senior partner, not your boyfriend’s nanny!” She shrieks. “Anyone would be pissed if they had someone call them every hour to check up on their boyfriend,” she says with a grunt.

Her multiple usage of the term causes blood to run up Singto’s cheeks. Even though no one’s there to see him, he still puts a hand on his face to try and cover it up, “We’re not boyfriends.”

“I will actually drown you in poison,” she threatens, making the younger roll his eyes.

“You know, I still don’t believe you with all that,” he stops to think of the appropriate term to use before forcing out, “magic stuff.”

When Alice told him yesterday about his and Krist’s past lives, it was a difficult concept to wrap his head around. He grew up to value logic and reality, this new information he got about his identity is just…surreal.

His friend hums, “That’s understandable. You lose almost all your memories of your previous life when you reincarnate.”

Again, her words made no sense, and it seemed like she realized it when silence filled the line.

She took a deep breath, “How about this,”

“Take a look at that gift I sent you last week.”

Singto blinks, dumbfounded, “What gift?”

“The box,” she replies, bored.

The younger looks around his office for a box. He doesn’t remember receiving any box from her last week or ever, even.

He puts down his pen from where he was proofreading contracts and walks around his office, his phone in hand.

“I don’t recall receiving anything from you, P’,” he says, making his way to his bookshelves to see if his secretary left anything there.

Alice grunts, “Oh, right. I forgot.”

Singto stops in his tracks, waiting for what the elder has to say. His eyes still scanning the shelves.

His thoughts immediately go to Krist and everything that happened that night. They still have to talk about it,

Or not. That depends on the younger whether he wants to talk or just forget about it. He can adjust for the younger’s wishes, Singto thinks.

“I used magic to send it to you, so it probably doesn’t have my name on it,” she says.

The lawyer steps towards the box. He puts his phone on the shelf and puts it on speaker as he lifts the flaps carefully, revealing a metal object.

He takes it out with one hand, and with the other, he picks up the card that’s inside the box.

_I have a feeling you’re a softie deep down, so at least, don’t throw this away._

_-Kit_

“Got to go, Sing. I have a meeting with the other partners. Text Krist if you want to check up on him, don’t bother me. Bye,” Alice quickly says, dropping the call.

He’s read the card a few times when it arrived, but this was the first time he notices its print.

Sunlight flood through his office, courtesy of the glass windows surrounding it. When a beam of light hit the card in his hand, the letters glowed.

It was too bright to be iridescent, almost copying the color of the sunlight and nearly vanishing the letters.

Singto quickly walks to the windows where the sun is stronger and puts the card up. He lets the light wash over the paper until each letter disappeared.

In his hand, the card felt like it was warming up, its temperature rising with each letter fading. Like magic, he watches the afternoon sun burn each curve and line until the paper turns out blank, void of any writing.

The small paper had grown incredibly hot to the touch that it caused needles of pain to the lawyer’s fingers.

He’s about to put it down when letters begin reappearing. This time, they weren’t the same as before.

_Open the box, and let it sing,_

_A tale of two hearts is what it brings_

_For the soul-bound eyes only._

—

_He’s standing by the window, watching as the wind blows and makes the branches sway. Loose petals and leaves fly with the wind, following the direction of danger. The spring sky is as clear as ever, and one would think it’s a perfect day that would bring smiles to their faces._

_Except, it’s not._

_The war has been going on for a couple days now. The High Warlock is eradicating every single moon witch and warlock, stripping them from their high positions and power, making sure they don’t stand with children of the sun. He’s making sure they stand below them, not above nor an equal but below._

_His orders and changes in the society caused an uproar from the people._

_There’s a hand cupping his shoulder followed by the words, “Remember how you couldn’t produce sunlight, and I told you to move on to another spell.”_

_Alice looks out of the window. Like her brother, she watches the trees sway with the wind. It’s easy for them to just go by and follow the flow. How lucky._

_The younger chuckles, “I didn’t want to stop until I got it right.”_

_His sister shakes her head, “You were relentless. It got to the point that I thought you would produce fire before you could make sunlight.”_

_“Now I know how to do both,” Krist says smugly, “Fiery pacts being the simplest one.”_

_His bragging causes the elder to hit his arm. He whines, immediately rubbing the affected area._

_“Have you used that spell before?” She asks, voice threatening. “That’s extremely dangerous! It’s—”_

_“—one of the most powerful spells in the book. Using it means no reversal as the promise will be embedded into your soul for as long as you live.” Krist says in a mocking tone. “Of course, I know that, P’.”_

_Alice glares at him, “Make sure of that.”_

_The younger goes back to watching the birds play outside. Despite how strong the wind blew, they still flew against it unlike the loose petals or fallen leaves that just go with the flow._

_When his sister speaks again, her tone is much different than before. “You should leave him.”_

_Krist lets seconds pass, letting her words sink in, before he shakes his head, smiling bitterly, “I wish it were that easy.”_

_Alice says them so easily, but Krist can’t even bear to think of it. It baffles him how easy it seemed to so many of their kind to make difficult decisions for the sake of identity and superiority._

_“The High Warlock won’t like it if he knew you—”_

_“What?” He snaps, turning to the elder, “What do I care if he knew I bound my soul with a moon warlock? What is it to me if he didn’t like what I did with my magic?”_

_Alice’s warm hands are quick to grab the younger’s arms, her eyes glowing gold like the sun, “You’ll die,” she says, gritted teeth._

_“He’ll make sure of that.”_

_Krist pulls himself out of his sister’s grip, taking a step back. “I’m not scared.”_

_The elder raises an eyebrow, the corner of her lips rising into a smirk, “Really? Well, I am.”_

_“Do you think it will be easy for me to live knowing that my brother is gone because he chose to run away with someone—” She stops herself, but it’s easy to know what she was about to say._

_The younger scoffs, “Go on. Say it.”_

_The glow in Alice’s eyes slowly fade and return to her normal brown pupils. She closes them and takes a deep breath, as if calming herself before looking at her brother. Her voice dripping with fatigue as she calls out his name, “Krist.”_

_He shakes his head in disbelief. The entire situation he’s in, being caught between choosing his identity and choosing his heart, is already taking a toll on him. But hearing it directly from his sister’s mouth, knowing that she also has prejudice in her, is what worsens the ache in his heart._

_The fact that it’s Alice herself that tries to convince him to abide with the new rules terrifies him because all his life, he never found a single flaw in her choices. Because deep inside, he knows she’s somehow right._

_“You’ve become just like them,” his voice cracks just like his heart._

_Krist takes one last look at his sister before turning his back on her and stepping away, but before he could make his way across the room to leave, her next words sealed the doubt in his heart. “If you’re lucky enough, it’s him who dies.”_

_The sun warlock turns around, anger bubbling in his chest. He can feel his skin warm up with the excessive amount of emotions he’s feeling, but he’s quick to tame them._

_He smirks humorlessly, “If he dies, I die.”_

_His eyes don’t glow, but the tip of his fingers begin to radiate gold light. He raises his hand and snaps his glowing fingers, flames immediately rising from his palm._

_A fiery pact is one of the most powerful spells in the book. It’s incredibly dangerous because of how ridiculously simple it is to make. The fact that a child can recite it albeit the high risk it entails is why it’s one of the rarest and most hidden spells. Only few of the most powerful beings know of it._

_Shock and fear quickly become evident in Alice’s eyes when she realizes what her brother was doing. Even if she tried to stop him, it was too late._

_He feels the temperature of his body rise high enough to make the fire in his palm grow stronger._

_Krist stares straight into his sister’s eyes and chants, “That’s a promise I will take to my grave.”_

\--

“Heads up,” Krist immediately says as he walks into Singto’s office. He takes something out of his pocket and tosses it to the elder’s direction.

The man looks taken aback but is quick to catch the object thrown to him. He looks down and sees a thick thread tied into a necklace with a key as its pendant. Its color was a faded gold with specks of dark blue and silver, matching the music box.

“I still don’t get why you asked about that nor why you even know I have that,” the younger sits on the chair across him.

They haven’t seen each other since Krist went back to work. He hasn’t been in Singto’s office since that night, and right now, he’s trying his very best to not turn his head to the book shelves not even letting himself look at it through his peripheral.

He clears his throat to try to stop him from thinking.

“I ordered green tea latte. It should be here any minute,” the elder says nonchalantly. His eyes were stuck on the key in his hand, observing it with astonishment at how familiar it felt.

Krist tilts his head in question, “How did you know I like green tea?”

Singto stops fiddling with the object he’s holding. He slowly looks at the younger, not knowing what to say. When his own words sunk into him, he realized that when he ordered their drinks, he just sort of knew what to buy for Krist, and that didn’t make sense.

Or maybe it did.

In the end, he just shrugs and lies, “Alice.”

The younger squints at him suspiciously but nods.

“So, what did you ask that for?” Krist asks again.

The other lawyer leans to one side of his table and pulls open a drawer. He doesn’t say anything and lets the younger watch as he takes out the music box and puts it on the table with a thud.

Krist’s eyes follows the music box and out of a sudden, he feels as if he got punched in the gut and his throat closes. The sudden urge to throw up rises in him, and even though he can conceal it, it proves to be difficult especially since he doesn’t have any idea why he’s feeling this way.

When the elder places the key next to the music box, that’s when he realizes what’s going on.

“How did you know that that’s the key?” His voice dropping an octave and his tone different from how light it was before.

Singto looks at him. He shrugs and tells the truth, “Alice.”

The younger furrows his eyebrows and scowls, “What do you mean ‘Alice’? What’s she got to do with this?”

The other lawyer lifts the small metal in the air. “She gave you this key, right?” Krist nods, urging the man to continue.

“Well,” Singto doesn’t know if he should say how he thought it was Krist who gave him the music box. He hasn’t figured out yet why it was Krist’s name that’s written on the card, and he wants to tell it to him when he knows about it.

“Alice gave me this music box,” he points to the object on the table, “Apparently the only way to open it is by using your key.”

Krist remembers his conversation with the senior partner when he asked about the key. Her answers were vague, almost as if she was avoiding the topic but at the same time, she neither confirmed nor denied his suspicions.

“You should’ve just had a courier sent to get it instead of asking for me to bring it to you personally,” the younger points.

Singto smiles, looking straight into the younger, “First of all, I wanted to see you.” His words made Krist scoff and looks away, avoiding the man’s eyes.

“Second,” the lawyer takes out something from the drawer under the table and places it next to the music box. It’s a small piece of paper, its surfaces browned up and damaged by light, probably.

Krist reads it. He reads it twice, thrice, multiple times, but he ends up throwing the elder a confused look, “What’s this?”

“That came with the box, and if my hunch is true then—”

The younger laughs, “Do you think we’re the ‘two hearts’?”

He looks at Singto as if the man was cracking a joke.

“P’,” Krist exclaims, “Isn’t this going too fast? You’re having high hopes in whatever it is between us.”

The elder squints at him, unimpressed by his choice of words and by how he’s turning this situation into a whole different thing.

He sighs exasperatedly, “I’m serious here, Kit—”

“Don’t call me that!” The younger snaps. The previous smirk on his lips was no replaced with a frown, his eyes widen in anger that he himself can’t comprehend where it comes from. He doesn’t realize when his chest heaves and the surface of his skin warms up.

Krist stands up and straightens his shirt, “I don’t know what you’re on about or what your hunch is, Attorney,”

He shakes his head in disbelief, “but I don’t want it.”

He doesn’t wait for the elder to answer and instead, just turns his back on him to walk away. The sudden shift in his mood confuses him, but he just goes with it.

—

“He doesn’t make sense!”

Like déjà vu, Krist rants as he puts his wallet down on the desk with a thud. Gun follows behind, chuckling as he shuts the door.

The lawyer sits in his chair with his face in a scowl.

“Easy there, tiger,” his best friend consoles.

“I don’t get it. He’s being stupid making up all this,” he waves his hand in the air, “magic bullshit, and for what?”

The elder hums, “Maybe it’s a metaphor for something,” he tries to suggest.

Krist raises an eyebrow, unimpressed with his friend’s words, “He’s a lawyer. Why would he use metaphors for something as simple as—”

He stops himself before he could even say the words. Confidence quickly fading from his face.

It’s Gun’s turn to raise an eyebrow, “You should really check on your emotions.”

“If you want the man, go get him. It’s not that hard,” the words roll of his tongue so easily, but Krist struggles to even think about it.

He’s always had a difficult time getting into relationships. Firstly, because he’s head on in getting a good place in his career and had zero time entertaining potential partners, and second, each person that passed in his life just didn’t feel right.

It’s true, that he gets a little lonely sometimes. The kind of lonely that friends can’t fulfill. Sometimes, he wonders what it would be like to have someone, but in the end, he just pushes the thought to the back of his head, deeming it irrelevant.

The lawyer shakes his head, “I don’t know, P’.”

“What even is stopping you?” Gun asks tiredly.

Krist thinks. He tries to think of what’s stopping him from letting his emotions flow.

Is it the way his touch is ever so gentle, and he’d hold him like he’s made of porcelain?

Is it the way his lips form the warmest of smiles or the way they graze over the younger’s in the softest and most addicting way possible?

Is it the way he glows best under the silver moonlight, his tears forming dust that resemble the stars?

Is it the mole on the small of his back or the dimple on his shoulder? Is it the comforting promises that he whispers to the younger’s skin every night—

What.

Krist blinks, taken aback by his own train of thoughts that seemed to have come out of nowhere, images of events that he doesn’t remember seeing flash before his eyes.

“There’s nothing stopping you, Kit,” his best friend says, tone gentle and consoling, “Why can’t you give yourself a chance this time?”

His words cause the lawyer to squint his eyes. “What do you mean ‘this time’?”

Gun stares back at him. His usual expressive eyes slowly melting into a void of nothingness.

The once hazel pools in them now glowed gold.

Krist’s own eyes widen in shock as he sees his best friend’s eyes glow. Somehow, the sight is familiar to him as if he’s seen it hundreds of times before, but even then, it still caused chills up his spine every single time.

“P’Gun,” the lawyer mutters.

The elder smiles, the gold fading from his eyes and in seconds, they return to its normal shade of brown, but Krist can still feel the heat radiating from his body even from afar.

“Now, do you believe him?”

\--

“He doesn’t believe me,” Singto says tiredly on the phone.

“Don’t rush him, Sing. Especially since you’re no better. His soul can sense that you don’t want this, so he doesn’t too.” Alice tells him, “Believe me. I know my own brother.”

The lawyer sighs, eyes on the music box in front of him.

It hasn’t been 10 minutes since Krist left, but the elder could immediately feel the energy drop as soon as he stepped foot out of his office.

“What even is inside this box?”

Silence fills the air. He began to believe Alice when she told him about the magic thing when the letters on the card glowed and changed in front of his eyes. If what the elder said about their souls being bound and able to sense each other’s instincts, then Krist, too, should be having the slightest bit of belief in the box in front of them.

But that just makes Singto more confused. If he’s certain about it, then why did he run away?

“That’s not my story to tell,” the elder says.

The younger sighs exasperatedly, his patience running thin, “Can you at least tell me if I can open this without Krist?”

Alice makes a sound of confusion, “Yeah, of course. Who said you have to open it with him around?”

Singto blinks, “It says here that it’s for the ‘soul-bound eyes only’.”

“Are your reading comprehension skills failing you?” She replies, irritated, “Only you and Krist can open it and see what’s inside, but that doesn’t mean you can’t open it on your own, you imbecile. Now, open it!”

“Jeez, I see where Krist got his attitude,” the younger mumbles under his breath.

“I heard that,” Alice says before dropping the call.

Singto shakes his head. He stares at the box before hesitantly taking it in one hand and the key in another.

He places the key in front of the hole underneath the box. He takes a deep breath before twisting it once, twice, thrice.

He can hear the gears work inside almost instantaneously as soon as he stopped rotating the key. Then the lid slowly pops open, and a tune starts playing.

Along with the music, there’s no ballerina or figurine gracefully spinning in the middle. Instead, there’s light coming out of the box. It was so strong that it had reached the ceiling, and it’s as if the music box refused to have any other luminescent present that it sucks the daylight that lit the room, filling it with darkness.

Golden light like the one spreading across the land right before the sun sets. Specks of silver dust also twirled in the air, surrounding the gold, and declaring its presence.

Then, the light begins flickering, changing colors in each part, and when Singto focused on one side, he can see images moving. He sees himself in a clothing style different than how he would dress now. He sees himself reading a huge book whose pages are browned and damaged. Moments later, someone chuckles and before his past self turns around, the image shifts.

He’s standing under a fig tree, the moon and the stars are the only objects shining in contrast with the darkness of the night. He sees himself lift his hands and motion them in different directions. With every sweep of his hands, gray light comes out of his fingertips. It doesn’t take long until the once dark fig tree glows silver, like the moon.

The scene shifts, and once again, he’s under the fig tree. The field is bathed in golden light, and Singto is lying on the grass with one arm under his head and his eyes closed, waiting for the sun to finally set.

The music doesn’t stop playing, but the lawyer can vaguely hear someone talk. It’s as if he’s underwater and the voice comes from his own head as it says, “P’.”

“Gold light looks good on you,” the voice says.

The lawyer sees a finger gently caress his past self’s cheek. The Singto in the image quickly catches the hand in his palm and pulls it to his chest. He opens his eyes and turns his head to fully look at the person beside him, making the lawyer gasp when he sees himself stare straight right into him with a fond smile, “And I think silver looks good on you.”

The music slows down until it comes to a halt, and the light diminishes. As if nothing happened, the daylight returns to the room, no sign of gold nor silver light that had once filled it.

Singto is shaking as he puts the metal box on the table, his heart pounding in his chest.

Memories.

The music box holds memories.

Krist’s memories.


	3. Chapter 3

“Are you sure you want to hear this from me?” Gun asks, now seated across Krist.

The lawyer takes a deep breath before letting out a sigh. He’s still a bit shaken from what his friend showed him, but he tries to compose himself, nodding in answer.

“1697, there was a huge change in the magic society. The new Head Warlock imposed inequality between the two bloodlines of magic: the sun and the moon. He wanted all moon magics to be stripped from positions of power, he wanted them to be inferior to the sun magics.”

Krist furrows his eyebrows, frustration rising instantaneously, “Why would he do that? He’s just new to the position, isn’t he?”

The elder chuckles, “That’s exactly what you said back then.”

The lawyer blinks, the corners of his lips lifting in the slightest way possible.

“He wanted power. The more people you have below you, the easier it is to take control,” Gun’s voice drops an octave and his eyes darken as if he’s remembering the exact events that took place centuries ago.

“Since he banned the moon magics to mingle with the suns, that also meant relationships,” he looks at his friend carefully, testing if he’d understand immediately, “And you…”

Krist hums, “I was with a moon warlock.”

Even though none of them say anything nor put out any name, they both know who it is.

Singto—he was a moon mage.

That explains the strange dream he had when he passed out. It never really faded from his memories. He just had it tuck in the back of his head, waiting to be remembered. It just makes sense.

The elder’s face and how happy they were with each other still rang in his mind and body as if it happened at present time. It felt so real. All of it.

Gun nods, “The Head Warlock didn’t like that, so…”

Words come out of his best friend’s mouth, but Krist doesn’t need to listen to him to know what happened because memories start flooding his mind as if a huge dam was cracked open.

He closes his eyes, and when he opens them, he’s back in 1697.

The sun warlock pushes the door open with so much force that it must’ve caused a dent on the wall, “WHERE DID YOU TAKE HIM?”

The necklace and its pendant shift in its place as his chest heaves when he takes long strides to the mage standing by the window, watching the chaos ensue in the streets outside. Below him, just as he wanted.

Krist clenches his jaw when he feels the man’s warm energy in a calm state. It’s disgusting how this man is enjoying the mess he created.

“Why should I tell you?” The Head Warlock’s voice is light with a tone of sarcasm. Even without turning around, it’s obvious that there’s a smile plastered on his face.

“I was going to leave him,” Krist lies through his teeth, “I was going to follow your orders.”

He takes a step forward, fists clenched at his sides, “Where did you take him?”

The man snickers before turning around to look at the younger warlock whose energy radiated so much rage that it nearly makes his eyes gold. The Head Warlock tilts his head. Smirking, he says, “You should check on your emotions. It isn’t good with your magic.”

Krist glares at him, “I don’t want to play your little game, Gun.”

The elder frowns sarcastically, “I’m not playing a game.”

He smiles wide. The quick changes in his expressions feed the bubbling irritation in Krist’s stomach, causing his skin to crawl with heat.

Gun barks out a laughter before slowly glaring back at Krist, “Liar.”

“You don’t plan on following my rules. You never liked playing along with them, after all!”

Anger seeps from his skin, and it’s evident through how his body glows gold.

Even when he tilts his head, slightly widens his eyes to make them look innocent, and puts on a small smile, “But I’ll let that go since we’ve been friends for centuries. I just need a little something from you in return.”

He stares straight into the other warlock’s eyes, “Give me the moon flower.”

Krist scoffs and shakes his head in disbelief, “That plant grows everywhere. You’re head warlock, yet you can’t get ahold of it?”

The other man hums, “But I’m talking about the original moon flower. The one your little moon warlock inherited and hid.”

“You know,” he shrugs, “the one that could wipe off the entire moon bloodline?” A nasty smile creeps onto his face.

If he could, Krist would do anything to wipe that smirk off his face, but he can’t. He needs to keep his temper in check if he doesn’t want his own magic to be in danger. The only thing is he knows exactly where the flower is, he’s kept it with him ever since it first came to their house.

He was amazed by it at first, then terrified that his boyfriend would use it the wrong way and damage his magic. God, it’s probably better to be scared of that than to not see him at all.

The sun mage takes a deep breath. If he plays his cards right, then he’d be able to stop all this nonsense.

He lifts his hand to just below his neck, letting his fingers curl around the pendant of his necklace. It’s a small glass vial, filled with aqua and—

“ _Of course_ ,” Gun laughs, his eyes on the other’s hand, “Of course he left the flower with you.”

Krist tugs at the necklace hard enough to break it off him and lifts it up for the Head Warlock to take.

The man gladly puts his palm out under the vial for the man to let it go, his skin tingling with excitement as he thinks of all the things he could do with so much power.

“Such a sweet, sweet gesture,” the Head Warlock mutters when the latter finally lets him have the jar.

His eyes lift to the sun mage in front of him. He smiles mischievously, “He must’ve trusted you so much to let you have it.”

He lifts his other hand up in the air, raising an eyebrow, he says, “Right, Singto?” He snaps his fingers and blinding light fills the room so much that it makes Krist squint his eyes.

When he opens them again, they aren’t in the Head Warlock’s office.

Krist gasps and takes a step back when he gets a whiff of his favorite orange and vanilla bean scent—the product of his and Singto’s magics combined in a potion room.

They’re in his house.

He blinks in surprise and his heart beats loud in his chest. His eyes are wide in shock, and when he looks back to the Head Warlock, he sees him smirking but looking past Krist.

The sun mage slowly turns around, his hands and legs shake in fear and incredulity.

There, in the other side of the room, his beloved kneels. His head hung low, and his hands tied behind him. Krist can feel the moonlight fade from within him, he can feel how tired he is.

Tears pool in the corners of Krist’s eyes when his lover slowly lifts his head and tries to smile at him reassuringly.

“How does it feel to be betrayed?” Gun’s voice echo in the room, “Knowing how much you trusted someone, but they turn their back on you in the end.” His words drip with so much anger that it would’ve caused burns on the other mage’s skin if he didn’t feel the same way.

The Head Warlock’s footsteps are loud against the hardwood floors as he walks towards the other sun mage.

“Warlocks and witches are immortal unless they take their own lives, that’s the rule,” he starts.

Krist turns his head to the man he once called a friend.

Gun claps his hands together and steps forward, towards the moon mage kneeling on the floor in hostage, “Now, let me tell you about a lovely flower called the oleander.”

His words make the sun warlock’s eyes widen, “No.”

Gun and Krist have been friends since they became warlocks. They studied the book of magics together from page to page and know everything that involves potions and spells, but the sun mages had different expertise. When Krist moved on to incantations, Gun was mastering poisons.

“Oh, you remember?” The Head Warlock exclaims as he takes something from his pocket. He lifts it in the air to show the sun mage, “Oleanders can cause a variety of damage, depending on the victim. At most, it can cause death. At the very least,”

He smiles wickedly, “It can make you susceptible to mind control.”

Krist makes a dash to the Head Warlock and snatches the flower from him. He pushes the man hard enough for him to crash on the wall before crumpling the plant in his hand, his eyes glowing gold as he lets the flames in his palm burn the flower.

When he’s sure it’s burnt, he opens his palm and the flower’s ashes fall from them, smoke rising to the ceiling.

Gun laughs, “You’re too late, Kit.”

“He’s already consumed it way before you arrived,” his eyes glint with mischief.

When Krist turns to look at Singto, he sees him raising his index finger to the space under his ear, angling it down to his jugular. His eyes now in a daze and void of any emotion.

The sun mage makes his way to him, quickly dropping to the floor to kneel in front of him. He cups the elder’s cheeks, the pad of his thumb gently caressing the apples of his cheeks.

“Hey, are you there?” He says, drops of tears fall from his eyes. “P’, it’s me. Darling, please talk to me.”

His voice is dripping with beseech, and he can feel his own energy flicker on the surface of his skin.

The tip of Singto’s finger connect with the skin under his ear, and Krist can see the silver light starting to glow from it. He can feel the moon mage’s magic grow, but he doesn’t glow silver in other parts of his body.

When magic is concentrated, it can be as sharp as a gilded knife.

The realization brings more panic to the sun mage. He’s desperately holding the elder’s face, begging him to wake up. “Look at me, please. Please.”

He chokes on a sob as he begs, “I love you. I love you. I love you, so much. All the time. In every lifetime. Please don’t.”

His entire body is numb, and his eyes are blurry from the amount of tears blocking his sight. Fear quickly grows and blocks his airway; the idea of his beloved disappearing terrifies him.

“P’Sing—” his voice gets cut off when he sees the man move his hand slowly, blood dripping from the skin his finger once touched.

“No, no, no, no.” Krist shakes his head frantically. He tries to pull the elder’s hand away from himself, but it just quickens its way down his throat. “P’Sing, please.”

At the last moment, the sun mage sees when his beloved starts to come back to himself. He sees when Singto looks back to him, eyes full of nothing but love. But before hope could spark in the younger’s heart, he sees the moon warlock’s eyes roll to the back of his head, eyelids closing shut, and his body falling.

“NO!” Krist sobs as he takes the man in his arms.

His own voice rings in his ears. Blood rushing to every part of his body, but he can’t feel anything other than the fading light from his lover’s body. The warmth it once radiated only for Krist was now nowhere to be found. The sun mage tries to search for it desperately, his heart screaming in agony, wanting to feel the moon warlock’s gentle touches, but they’re gone.

The person he loves more than his own life is gone.

Tears come out like waterfalls down his cheeks, dropping to his lover’s blood-stained clothes.

Footsteps approach to his side along with the words, “Love makes the strongest of magics weak. It makes you pathetic.”

Krist’s chest heaves, and he can feel his body burn with all his heightened emotions. He looks up to the Head Warlock who’s staring down at him with a stoic expression.

The sun mage shakes his head, “It’s you who has become pathetic, P’.”

“Kit, I understand if you—”

“No,” he says with his teeth gritted, “maybe if you decide to love, then you’d understand my pain.”

Gun takes a last look at him before walking towards the door, leaving the room.

Krist lets his tears fall. He lets his agony embrace him and fuel the light radiating from him.

Moments later, he leans down onto Singto’s face and places a kiss on his forehead. One last time.

He closes his eyes and mutters incantations under his breath. With every chant, he can feel his body heat up more. His body produces more golden light until it practically shines against the hardwood floors. He doesn’t see when his body absorbs the sunlight beaming from the windowpanes.

He doesn’t realize when his own magic as a sun warlock sucks the light coming from the sun, the streets outside slowly bathing in darkness in the afternoon hour.

With each incantation, he can feel his magic grow to its peak. With each incantation, the sun slowly gets blocked by the shadow of the moon. He lets his magic glow and burn his skin. He lets it swallow him whole. He lets his own magic overcome him until it takes his own breath.

His body falls to the ground the same time as the eclipse reaches its peak.

The entire city is flooded with darkness, and not a single magic knows what’s going on. They were not expecting an eclipse to happen, because if they did, they would’ve prepared for the worse.

Realization of this makes the Head Warlock rush back to the room. He pushes the door open only to see the person he once called a friend lying on the floor, the last of his sunlight making his and his beloved’s bodies glow one last time.

—

Singto plops himself on the bed.

It’s half past midnight, and his head is starting to ache with how long he’s been watching the images from the music box. Memories of him and Krist from their past lives dance among the silver and gold lights beautifully each time.

Alice had told him that Krist’s last spell was used to copy his memories onto the music box before sealing and binding it with the key and the card note. With each twist of the key held a different memory, and Singto has been playing the box for hours now that the music has stuck to his head.

He lets his eyes rest, letting them fall shut. But it doesn’t even take him more than ten seconds when his eyes fly open from the sound of his phone ringing on the bedside table.

Sighing, he reaches for it and presses the ‘answer’ button without looking at the caller ID. Before he could say something, he hears a familiar voice say,

“Krist ran away."


	4. Chapter 4

“We’ll look around, Sing.” Tay tells him through the phone.

The lawyer sighs, “Thank you, P.”

“Don’t worry, yeah? He’ll be back.” He says reassuringly.

Singto rubs the space between his eyebrows, his eyes sore from crying. He drops the call and takes a deep breath.

After Gun explained to him how and why Krist asked him to leave his office, then hours later, he’s nowhere to be found, Singto immediately calls everyone he knows that could help in finding the younger.

His eyes move to the music box on his bedside table. He takes it into his hands and twists the key.

Light shine from it as soon as the lid pops open, but unlike before, the once golden beams of sun ray with specks of stardust is replaced with silver moonlight with slivers of yellow light.

“What,” he mumbles in surprise, the box illuminating in the darkness of his room.

He focuses on it, eager to see what change the scenes would have now that the light shifted from gold to silver, but all he sees is darkness. A blackhole in the middle of a galaxy of stars.

The lawyer squints his eyes and blinks as if that would change something, and when he opens his eyes, the image in front of him does too.

Unlike in the previous visions, his senses in this one was heightened enough to the point that it felt like he was experiencing it firsthand. Hardwood floors underneath his fingertips, the scent of sweet oranges and vanilla bean filter through his nostrils, but there’s also a blanket of gold dust surrounding him. He hears a voice—voices. Their words are blurry as though he’s underwater, and when they clear up, he recognizes them.

“Such a sweet, sweet gesture. He must’ve trusted you so much to let you have it. Right, Singto?”

The gold dust that the shone in the air slowly fades, and Singto sees the image lift its head. Right there, across the room, the only sun mage he’s ever loved in his life stared right back into him with shock and fear.

It all made sense. The silver instead of gold. His heightened senses.

This image was his.

The last one he had.

Krist was frozen in his feet, and there’s another figure walking towards the moon mage.

Just like what Gun said, it was him. His eyes were filled with rage and bitterness, his sunlit energy glowing against his skin. “How does it feel to be betrayed? Knowing how much you trusted someone, but they turn their back on you in the end.”

The Head Warlock’s eyes were on him, bearing nothing but pure anger as if he despised him more than anything in the world. Extremely different from how he sees the man today.

The moon mage looks at his beloved once again, and even though he can’t see himself, Singto can feel his past self, smiling reassuringly at the younger warlock. It’s as if he can hear the thoughts running in his mind back then, and the lawyer’s eyes prickle with tears in the realization that his love for Krist was stronger than any magic in this world.

He smiles reassuringly, not because he knows his fate, but because he wants his lover to know that he forgives him. He will always forgive him the same way as he’ll always love him in each life they live, in every time.

“Warlocks and witches are immortal unless they take their own lives, that’s the rule,” he claps his hands and steps forward, towards the moon mage, “Now, let me tell you about a lovely flower called the oleander.”

At the mention of the poisonous flower, Singto can taste the tanginess in his mouth as if he consumed it all over again. He can feel its effects on him, restraining the magic he can control in his body. His head is hazy, and he can’t think straight. He lets his eyelids fall shut to try to control himself, and when he opens them, he sees his lover kneeling in front of him, hands on either side of his face.

Even though he can’t see himself, Singto can feel something sharp below his jaw and the prick of pain it inflicts on his skin.

In front of him, Krist’s tears fall one after the other as he repeats like a mantra, “I love you. I love you. I love you, so much. All the time. In every lifetime. Please don’t.”

He begs like it’s his life being taken away from him, and the lawyer can feel his past self, trying. He can feel his want to pull the sun mage in his arms and comb his hand through his hair, whispering words of comfort and promising he’d never leave him.

He wants to tell him how much he loves him, how this lifetime won’t be enough, that no matter how many eternities they’d spend together, time can never measure the burning love he has for him.

The tears that would’ve fallen from the moon mage’s eyes fall from the lawyer’s. The pain he would’ve yelled out in the past burst as uncontrollable sobs in the now.

Singto sees his lover try to stop him, but even _he_ can’t control his hand when it pierces through his skin.

To the best of his ability, he looks straight through Krist’s eyes and smiles before letting his magic and soul fade.

The image darkens once again, and this time, nothing reappears.

The lawyer puts the music box down, his chest heaving as he tries to catch his breath. He closes his eyes and squeezes them together to try to stop the tears, but to no avail.

He leans his back to the headboard, trying to calm himself down. He’s too focused on steadying his breathing and being in terms with what he saw that he doesn’t realize when the music stops playing.

The music box stops playing, its light fades, but the dark room is still illuminated with silver. The moonlight doesn’t come from the object nor from the celestial beings outside, it comes from him.

His skin glows silver, and he doesn’t realize it, but his eyes do too.

Beside him, his phone rings and gets his attention. On it is the name of the person causing his magic to awaken once more.

“Kit?” His voice comes out hoarse.

The lawyer can’t hear anything other the man’s breathing. Here and there, his breath would hitch as if he just finished crying.

“Can you…” Krist starts.

He takes a deep breath, his voice airy as he says, “Can you pick me up?”

Tears flow from Singto’s eyes once again. He lets out a soft laugh, and through the tears, he smiles and nods, “Of course. Always, darling. Always.”

\--

The address Krist gave him was an hour drive outside of the business district. It’s still within the city, but far deep into the suburbs where skyscrapers are nowhere to be found, and the only tall buildings are two to three-storey commercial establishments.

Singto asked Alice to drive him there, knowing that she would want to see her brother now that he’s also gained his memories back. The entire time, none of them talked. The man’s tear-stained eyes and glowing aura was enough for the sun witch to understand that he, too, can remember.

It’s half past one when the car comes to a halt in front of a park. Despite the darkness of the night, there were lamp posts illuminating the sidewalks, and Singto could see a big fig tree in the middle of the estate. Under it sat a familiar figure.

Before he could remove his seat belt, he hears the senior partner beside him gasp. He turns to look at her, and her eyes are situated on her brother who’s several meters away from them.

“He remembers this place,” Alice says, a fond smile on her lips. Her eyes shift to the lawyer whose skin glowed faintly underneath the moonlight albeit his eyes not being silver anymore. “Do you?”

“Do you remember where we are, Sing?” She asks her.

Singto turns back to the window, looking at the fig tree where Krist waits. It looks like a normal tree at first, but when the lawyer watches it for more than five seconds, he sees silver light glowing from it.

“Fig trees only last up to 200 years, but you made this last for forever and a day,” Alice explains. She lets out an airy laugh before adding, “It’s a gift you gave him. You swore that—”

“I would love him in this lifetime, and in the next, and in the one after that.” Singto says, barely above a whisper. In his peripheral, he sees the elder nod, “No matter what.”

The moon mage chuckles, ignoring the tears threatening to fall from his eyes once again. He finally steps out of the car, and when he closes the door, it makes a loud noise that catching the attention of the man waiting under the immortal fig tree.

The grass whispers underneath Singto’s feet with every step he takes, and the crickets and fireflies sing in the silence of the night. What once was an empty lot with nothing but an old fig tree now became a playground for children of many generations to play in. Metal seesaws, slides, and swings scattered on the lot, filling it with life as it waited for its rightful owners.

Still in his office-wear save for the jacket, Krist sits cross-legged under the branches, the moon looming above them just as it always had since time immemorial. It’s lived longer than they have and will live longer than their next lives. It has seen everything that everyone has seen and more.

If there’s a music box that could fit each lifetime Krist has lived and will live, it’s the moon.

He watches as Singto sits beside him and puts on a smile when their eyes meet. It was evident how they both just finished crying, with how their eyes are bloodshot and their breaths hitch. “Hey,” the elder says in whisper.

Reluctantly, he raises his hand and cups the younger’s cheek. As if on instinct, his eyes fall shut as he nuzzles into it, he feels himself release the breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“How are you, darling?” The elder asks gently. Even though he can feel how the younger is calming down, he still wants to make sure he’s okay.

Krist opens his eyes and chuckles humorlessly, “Bad.”

He leans away from the elder’s touch, letting his hand drop. “I feel horrible.”

As if he’s reminded once again of why he ran away, tears start to form in his eyes, and he looks away from the elder. He sucks in a shaky breath, shaking his head, he says, “I remember everything.”

“I remember how you…” he chokes on his words as memories of the past return. Everything he felt that day comes rushing to him as if he’s experiencing it all over again. “…in front of me.”

“It was so scary, P’. Seeing you go, knowing that it was my fault, that I couldn’t do anything to stop you,” he says continuously as he’s been keeping them for centuries now, waiting to be said out loud. “I _hated_ how I was one of the most powerful, but I couldn’t do anything to save you from my own best friend.”

“If only I was quick enough to find you or if only I had trusted you, we wouldn’t have been apart for so long.” He vomits the words as his tears flow non-stop. “I was so terrified when you left, P’, I thought I would never see you again—”

The moon mage pulls him into his arms, just like how he would’ve done if he weren’t bonded with poison back then. He hushes the younger, just like how he would’ve done if he wasn’t under a spell back then.

“I’m here now, love. I’m here.” He says like a mantra.

Singto pulls away but keeps his hands on the underside of the younger’s jaw, the pad of his thumbs drawing circles on his cheeks. He looks straight into his eyes and smiles through his own tears, “I told you, I’m not leaving you.”

He shakes his head before leaning up to press a kiss on the younger’s forehead, “Not again,” he presses a kiss on the tip of his nose, “Not ever,” he pulls back slightly before rubbing the tips of their noses together, earning a giggle from the sun warlock, “No.”

He rests their foreheads together, “Okay?”

The lawyer asks it in many contexts. If he’s okay with him not leaving. If he’s okay with their souls being bound for as long as eternity lasts. If he’s okay with them trying to get into terms with their relationship. If he’s okay, in general.

His question holds a lot of other questions, and Krist understands every last bit.

The younger nods, “Okay.”

—

“If that banner isn’t in its position when Singto comes back, I _WILL_ STRANGLE YOU!”

Alice’s voice echoes in the room as she threatens the man holding a pair of scissors in one hand and a packing tape in the other. Gun glares at her and lifts the shears he’s holding, but before he can say anything, the elder glares harder back at him.

Tay steps in and pulls Alice back, Off pulling his boyfriend to the side. “Alright, that’s enough fighting, kids.”

“The professor is right! We got a party to decorate,” New yells from behind the speakers, setting up the sound system they’ll be using.

It’s six hours before Krist’s birthday, and his boyfriend wanted to do a surprise party for him with all their friends.

They’ve been together now for more than a year, and Singto can’t wish for anything more. It was challenging especially when they each had episodes where the tragedy of their past lives would come crashing on them out of nowhere, but they made through every single one together. They still absorbed their energies from their elements, magic still flows in their souls, but not as strong as before.

From time to time, they would mess with each other by doing the simplest irritating things like that one time Krist learned he can control light bulbs within a building.

“Kit,” Singto says with a threatening tone when the bulb in his office flickered for the fourth time. The younger was lying on the couch by the bookshelf, his eyes closed as if he was sleeping.

The elder sighs heavily, taking his hands off the keyboard and leaning back to his chair, removing his glasses and putting it on the table. “You know I can see in the dark, right?” He says when the light shuts off completely.

Krist hums, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Singto rolls his eyes at how childish his boyfriend can become. He rolls his chair back so he can stand up and walk to the younger whose eyes were still closed. He stops in front of him, hands on both sides of his waist as if preparing to scold the younger.

“Put the power back on,” he demands.

Krist opens his eyes and widens them in an innocent way, putting on a pout, his voice comes out whiny, “You said we were going home.”

The elder’s eyes soften, knowing exactly why his boyfriend was acting up. He still has more emails to send, but maybe they can wait later in the night.

He nods and smiles, “Let me just fix my stuff.”

As soon as the sun mage grins happily, the lights turn back on.

Sometimes, Singto would tinker with his magic until he figures out how to do a huge spell.

Krist’s back crashes against the bookshelf, making him moan in delight. Like the first time, Singto’s hands were gripping his tiny waist tightly, the pad of his thumbs rubbing against the silk of his shirt before pulling the hem out from being tucked under his pants.

Their lips mold into each other perfectly, and when the elder bites on his boyfriend’s lower lip, he’s quickly given access to his mouth, his velvet tongue free to explore the walls of his mouth.

The younger’s hands curl against his boyfriend’s shirt, remembering how it was ironed to perfection earlier in the morning. He giggles into the elder’s mouth, thinking about how there’s something so pleasant in ruining perfect things.

The room is filled with nothing but the sounds of their sloppy kisses as the afternoon sun gleams through the glass walls of Singto’s office. They were opposing counsels in a case that reached court, and it was the first time since they met that the elder won.

Which is why he quickly pulled his boyfriend back to his office to get his reward.

“You’re _really_ enjoying your victory,” Krist comments with a chuckle when the elder leaves his lips alone, moving press soft kisses down his jaw.

Singto hums, “You would too if you were in my position.”

The younger laughs, “Oh, let’s see about that tonight.”

Before Krist could moan when he feels his boyfriend suck on the skin right below his ear, his eyes widen when the door suddenly clicks open.

He tries to push the elder away before the person could see them, but Singto just chuckles and presses him back to the shelves.

“P’, someone’s—” Krist tries to warn the elder, but he just ignores it and continues to nibble on his boyfriend’s lower lip.

The younger’s eyes follow as Prame steps into his boss’s office, carrying a stack of case folders. He doesn’t spare them a glance and instead went straight to Singto’s table, putting the folders down.

The secretary lifts his head and scans the room. Krist nearly has a heart attack when the young man looks at the bookshelves, but it’s as if he doesn’t see them. It doesn’t take a minute before he finally leaves the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.

Krist tries to push his boyfriend away from him, but he tightens his hold. “What the hell was that?”

Singto hums against the younger’s skin, “Magic.”

Krist blinks, “What ‘magic’?”

His boyfriend sighs before pulling away. He flicks his fingers and when the younger looks past him, he sees tiny crystals floating in the air, reflecting the sunlight and glowing in different colors.

“P’Gun taught me how to put on a veil,” he explains, “Anyone who will enter the room, magic or not, will see it empty. No signs of us.”

He snaps his fingers and the crystals fade, but there are still some glinting in the air, proving that they’re still there.

Singto rests his hands on his boyfriend’s waist, “Now, can we go back to what we were doing?”

Krist stars at him in disbelief, rolling his eyes before nodding.

They’ve been through a lot in such a short amount of time. A year is just a blink in the centuries they spent before. Even so, they managed to fix ties with their past issues.

As soon as they went back after their talk under the fig tree, Gun shows up in Singto’s apartment where Krist stayed the night, wanting to talk to the pair.

“The past four centuries,” his eyes were fixed on his fingers as he fiddles with the hem of his shirt, “I reflected on what Krist said.”

“I tried to learn how to love,” he raises his head and smiles apologetically at Krist, “I wanted to understand what made my best friend choose his lover over everything else.”

“After the eclipse, I ended everything. I fixed everything that I broke. I did everything you would’ve wanted me to do,” he says, pointing at the younger sun mage.

“I waited to meet you again, and god, I was so happy when we became friends again in this life,” the man chuckles. Then, his smile melts, tears form in the corners of his eyes, “I’m so, so sorry.”

“I understand now completely, more than ever, if you don’t forgive me. I’m just really, really sorry.”

Krist looks at him just as how someone would if they’ve been betrayed because that’s exactly how he feels, but even then, even when this man in front of him caused the tragedy in their past life, he was still his best friend in this one. He was still the man he trusts the most at present.

Singto watches as the younger leans towards his best friend, taking his hands into his, “It’s going to take a while,”

The corners of his lips lift into a soft smile as he looks back at Gun, “but I will.”

\--

Now, in the quiet of the halls of their condo, Singto clasps his hand with his boyfriend’s pulling him to their apartment. It’s minutes before midnight, and they just got back from a date supposedly to celebrate Krist’s birthday, but really, it was just a distraction.

“P’, I swear, if I trip, I will strangle you!” Krist threatens for the third time since they stepped in the building because of how quick the man walked.

The elder laughs, “I’d like that,” he jokes, earning a slap on the arm from his boyfriend.

“You’re so weird,” the younger comments as he’s being led to the door.

When Singto doesn’t open the door, Krist grunts before leaning into the keypad to type in their lock password.

The elder lets go of his hand and steps back, letting his boyfriend enter their apartment first.

The lights are closed, and the room is dark when Krist enters, so he snaps his fingers to switch on the lights. When they do, he’s taken aback by the sudden shouts, “Happy birthday!”

The living room was decorated with yellow themes. There were streamers and balloons, but mostly there were cut-out images of the sun and his face. Lots of pictures of his face.

Their friends smile wide back at him, and Alice stands in the middle, carrying a candle-lit cake.

Krist steps forward, chuckling, and their friends come closer as well.

The younger lawyer turns to his boyfriend who was grinning at him. Krist points to their friends, “You planned this?”

Singto laughs, nodding.

“Oi! Give credits to us, we did everything.” The pair looks back to see New whining.

“We spent the entire day decorating while your boyfriend spent his time flirting with you,” Gun jokingly says, rolling his eyes.

“Babe, _we_ spent the entire day decorating _and_ stopping you and Alice from burning each other to bits,” Off says to his boyfriend.

“Happy birthday, Kit,” Alice says with a smile, reaching the cake out for Krist to blow the candles.

He clasps his hands together and closes his eyes, wishing for nothing but happiness for the rest of eternity, before blowing the candles.

When the flames are out, he turns to look at his friends and points at the cake, “Orange?”

They all nod happily, “Orange.”

Krist laughs delightfully. He feels warm all over with happiness that he can practically feel his skin glow gold, but he doesn’t care about how his magic warms him. Because the only warmth he pays attention to is the hand wrapping around his waist.

He looks at his boyfriend whose smile mirrored his. The sun mage could almost see the elder’s silver energy radiate from his body, and he couldn’t want anything more.

“I love you,” he can’t help but say.

Singto’s grin falters into a smaller, gentler one, but nonetheless powerful, “I love you.”

They’ve been saying those words since the first lifetime they spent together, and they’ll keep saying it in this one, and in the next, and in the one after that, and the one after that for the rest of eternity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! this was originally a [thread](https://twitter.com/singtolovebot/status/1274630963121676288?s=20) on twitter.
> 
> i hope you liked it because this fic means a lot to me. tell me your thoughts! [i'm on twitter](https://twitter.com/singtolovebot)

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this was originally a [thread](https://twitter.com/singtolovebot/status/1274630963121676288?s=20) on twitter.
> 
> i hope you liked it because this fic means a lot to me. tell me your thoughts! [i'm on twitter](https://twitter.com/singtolovebot)


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